


Dan-Draco 2

by DanDraco



Series: Dan-Draco [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Dan-Draco, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-08
Updated: 2013-09-07
Packaged: 2017-12-25 23:12:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 41,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/958746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DanDraco/pseuds/DanDraco





	1. Intro

"Math and reading can be wrong, because they can be proven wrong. History, however, is always right, because it already happened." My history teacher in 9th grade said that to us when the year started. Its funny, the summer after I became Dan-Draco, I went on a journey that made me think of that statement. Oh God, if he could see what I saw, see what I learned, that statement would be totally wrong.  
It's been a few months since the battle with Uni. Summer vacation is starting. For most teenagers, they would party all night. For me, it's teaching Draco how to play video games.

"So this stick is to fire?"  
"No, Draco. That's to move."

He's seen me play so many times he wanted to learn how to play what to see what the fuss is about these "entertainment devices"

"There's a sniper on the cliff"  
"I see him… Got him. Behind you!"

Draco's experience in the Draconian military gives him an edge in shooter games. At least he's a fast learner. He learned all of this within two days. He started learning advanced tactics after the third day. I suggested we should now team up against people in matchmaking; mainly because I'm tired of getting my ass kicked by him. This reminds me of when he was training me when we are Dan-Draco.

I started hanging with Andrew, Jen, and Alex more. I never had a chance to before. Selena however has been busy. She and Nicole have been looking at colleges. Both Alex and I have been slightly depressed because soon, we won't see them.

As for that comet Terraflight told us, Draco and I don't know what to think. Draco told me that the comet is called Comet Sigma. Supposedly, it has the spirits of the creators of the Draconian and Saurian. But that's legend to Draco's kind. He just thinks' it's a regular comet. We don't know how to prevent it from crashing. We don't have any defense against them. No one is going to believe us. For now, we try to get on with our lives.  
This is the next part of my trails.


	2. Keys through Time

We started to go to a nearby museum. Andrew and Jen dragged Alex and me here. Nicole and Selena are out looking for colleges.  
"Why did you guys drag me out of bed for a museum?" Alex groans.  
"Because they got some new stuff in the ancient weapons exhibit!" Andrew said. He really loves history. Mainly all the weapons; he likes the unique design of the very first weapons.  
"What about the other stuff like the uniforms and transportation throughout time?" Jen asked as she swiped the museum map. She and Andrew have been hanging out more. They haven't held hands or anything, but they are close to being boyfriend and girlfriend.  
"Not enough action in those." Andrew said as he took it back. Alex whispered over to me.  
"They are already acting like an old married couple." He told me. Andrew and Jen started having an argument. Can't argue with Alex when he's right. It was funny to see those two argue. "Reminds me of you and Selena. Only that was more violent." Alex told me. Alex mentioning Selena reminded me of the fact she's going to college. Her future is in high gear while I'm still here. What is my future? I haven't even thought of what to do. "Oh, sorry, I forgot you are extremely close to her."  
"It's ok. I'm fine." I told him. I noticed Alex was also down. Maybe he remembered that he's in the same position with Nicole. "You just remembered the fact we are both in the same position?"  
"Yep… So how's the whole uhh…" He looks around seeing if people are in earshot. "Being Dan-Draco thing going?" Alex said trying to change the subject.  
"Pretty low activity." I informed him.  
"But I have been beating his ass in his little games." Draco said from his healing mode.  
"That reminds me, Draco, you were cheating in last night's match" Alex said.  
"No, I wasn't." Draco said "You're just terrible" He said chuckling. Alex speeds on ahead to avoid this conversation. He already knows he lost this argument. "Hey, Danny."  
"What is it?" I asked.  
"I'm sensing something." Draco said.  
"Saurian?" Great, I liked this new relaxation I had for months.  
"No… something from the museum." He said.  
"Do you know why it's coming from the museum?"  
"I'll tell you when we get in there." Draco told me. Looks like today is getting interesting. I hope it doesn't get me killed.

Andrew and Jen walked us through the museum. Jen won the argument and we went around the museum and not the weapons exhibit like Andrew wanted. Maybe she withhold sex. Whatever Draco is sensing, seems like it's in the last area which is the weapon exhibit. Well, all the stuff here looks interesting. But I have the attention span of a house fly when it comes to tour guides describing stuff. I only like looking at the stuff.  
We finally got the ancient weapons exhibit. Lots of nice looking stuff.  
"This is the weaponry humans had over thousands of years?" Draco asked me.  
"I know, we're extremely low tech compared to the Draconians." I told him.  
"For humans, you did advance pretty far." Draco said.  
"What about Draconians?" I asked. I always wondered their history.  
"Same pretty much. Started with swords, guns came soon after. But we didn't have the weapon cards. Those were invented to decrease weight of the weapons." Draco explained. Weapon cards are basically weapons packed into cards. And our gauntlet can read them and materializes them into weapons. I use them as Dan-Draco; pretty great weapon system. I can imagine them in a museum like this in about 100 years. "Danny, I'm sensing it again."  
"Its here in the exhibit?" I asked. I'm not surprised, this IS a weapons exhibit. But why all these old dinosaurs? Maybe for a quick buck? But why would a Saurian want something here though?  
"Yea… this is weird. I never sensed anything like this." Draco said. The guide leads us to a special stand with a weapon separated from the rest. "Danny, it's coming from there." This is what it is? There is a crowd around the stand. I move through the crowd and see it. A near-perfect sword. The guide says it's old. Predating millions of years ago. But it looks new. No rust. What's even more questioning is that swords weren't invented millions of years ago. So what is this? The guide says even scientists are stumped.  
"You seem more interested in this than before" Andrew said.  
"Draco is sensing something from this sword." I told him.  
"What is it?" He asked, more serious than ten seconds ago.  
"We don't know. And the mystery behind the sword makes this a hell more interesting." I told him.  
"Hey! You two!" The tour guide yelled at us. "Please remain quiet while I am talking."  
"Sorry, ma'am." Andrew said. A few minutes later, the lights went out. Everyone started whispering and asking what's going on. The guide seemed to panic too. She doesn't seem to know what's going on either. She gets her walkie talkie and someone talks through it.  
"Everyone!" The guide said to calm down everyone. "There is a problem with the generator. We'll get it back online. For now, everyone, please head back to the entrance." Everyone started to go back outside. But that was interrupted when something crashed through the ceiling. Everyone panicked and ran except for me. Andrew, Jen, and Alex were away but were looking for me.  
"Yo, Danny, come on!" Alex yelled.  
"You go, I'll deal with this!" I told him. Alex seemed to hesitate for a while. Jen and Andrew got his arm and got him out. There was a being in the crash site: a Draconian.  
"Finally found you…" He says to the sword. He doesn't even know anyone here exists. "Sword of Blazikai" That's the name of it? I took this opportunity and performed the synchronize with Draco.  
"Draco." I whispered to him.  
"Got it" He said back. Draco's energy covers my body and his body merges with my. I get his armor and gauntlet.  
"Hey!" I call out to the thief. The Draconian lifts his head and finally notices my presence.  
"A human? With Draconian armor?" He said with a quizzical look. He never heard of me? Draco still has contact with his father from time to time. According to King Draza, Draco and I have made an impression on his planet. So it's a surprise this guy doesn't know me.   
"Draco, do you know this guy?" I ask him. The Draconian looks military. Military men tend to know each other.  
"No, I never saw him before in my life. He doesn't even look like he is from Dracon." Draco explains.  
"So what? He's from a different planet like in a colony?" I asked.  
"No. Even if he did, he would still look the same as everyone else. The weaponry he has with him…" Draco explained. The Draconian has a big spear. The tip of it has twin blades that extend outward. The blade does look low tech compared to the weapons Draconian and Saurian use. Not only that, but the look of him is odd. The Draconians I met all had stales that looked and felt metallic. But this guy's stales look more reptilian. "… is extremely primitive"  
"So the old man was right" The Draconian finally says.  
"Who? Who the hell are you!?" I demanded.  
"Apologies. I am Dorado. And this sword belongs to me." Dorado said.  
"Like hell it does! It belongs to the museum!" I told him.  
"Cry me a freaking ocean." Dorado unfolds his wings and takes off.  
"He's running away!" Draco stated  
"I know!" I unfolded my wings and took off after him. I look around for him. I see him and fly after him. He doesn't seem to notice me after him. He lands on a building and looks at the sword with aw.  
"Finally. After all these damn years, I can finally gain ultimate power—" He was interrupted by a barrage of boomerangs. They stick into the ground around and explode. Dorado uses his wings to clear the smoke. Someone attacks him. Because Dorado cleared the smoke, he blocked it with his spear. Another weird thing: the spear was attached to his back, not with a CC drive like with the swords we have. CC drives, like weapon cards, hold close combat weapons like swords and clubs. The attacker was also a Draconian. But he was dark green and he looked similar to Dorado. His weapons were boomerangs like swords attached to his wrist. The attacker flies back and gains distance from him. "Triangu? I see you freed yourself too."  
"Dorado, my dear friend." Triangu said. Now there are two of them. I hope this one is our side. "Now hand me the sword."  
"I know you are just as bad as I am. I want this for myself" Dorado said. Looks like I'm wrong. Triangu grins.  
"Hey!" I yell out. Both of them look at me. "Dorado! Hand back the sword!"  
"Is that a Draconian Knight?" Triangu said. He looks at me like I'm a ghost and he's being scared shitless.  
"Yea, looks like that Nui guy was right after all." Dorado tells him. Who the hell is Nui?  
"We've been trapped for all this time, right? I don't see any members of my tribe." Triangu says looking around. "Humans and Readers dominate now?" Readers? Dominate? This guy talks like he came from the past.  
"Triangu, Dorado!" Draco calls out to them.  
"Who's there!?" Triangu demands shouting into the sky with weapons ready.  
"Relax, it's the kid's Draconian partner." Dorado tells him.  
"The Draconians don't inhabit Earth anymore! We moved off-world!" Draco explains to them.  
"What are you doing?" I ask him  
"These guys must have memory loss of some kind. Maybe if I remind them, they'll calm down from all this crazy." He explains. I'm not sure if that'll convince Dorado into giving back the sword though. But maybe this Triangu will listen to reason. Dorado gets this news to him like a huge semi rammed into him. Same with Triangu.  
"What about the war with the Saurian!?" Triangu demands an answer.  
"The war is still going on." Draco said. Triangu seemed surprised by that news. But Dorado quickly recovers from the news.  
"Whatever, if they are off-world, leaves me more planet to take over!" Dorado said.  
"Damn it, Dorado." Triangu said as he threw a boomerang sword. Dorado doesn't pay attention and the sword cuts his hand holding the sword. The sword drops. Dorado dashes after it, Triangu too as soon as his sword quickly comes back and attaches to his wrist. I dive bomb to catch it too.  
"Its mine!" Dorado yells  
"No, mine!" Triangu yells too. I catch up to them and am between them.  
"I'm not. Letting you guys get it!" I said as I reached for it. I grab it with my right hand, the one with my gauntlet. The sword starts surging with power. "The hell!?"  
"No!" Dorado yells. Both he and Triangu fly away from me. I land on the ground and the sword starts to overload with energy.  
"What's going on!?" I asked Draco, hoping for an answer.  
"I don't know!" Draco yelled. He starts screaming in pain. Is this artifact hurting him? After a few seconds later, I can't feel the weapon anymore. It turns into pure energy and all the flowing energy goes to my gauntlet. I kneel to the ground. Trying to recover. My gauntlet is shorting out; I look to it and see Draco in pain; curled into a ball and holding his stomach.  
"Draco!!" I yelled. A second later, the gauntlet stops shorting out and Draco recovers. "What happened?"  
"Danny…" Draco starts, "I think I ate it."  
"… What?" I asked. He ate the sword? I don't think that's possible.  
"The sword… it… went into my stomach." Draco says. The hell?  
"EHHHHHHH!?" I said confused as hell.  
"No…" I hear Dorado say.  
"Looks like the sword of Blazikai is out of the game and someone joined." Triangu says.  
"The others will be mine. I'll find a way to get the sword back." Dorado said as he flew away. I tried to follow him. But I bend down in pain. That energy surge did a number on both Draco and I. Triangu looks at us for a second.  
"As humans would say in these situations, let the games behind. And 'let the odds ever be in your favor'." He said in a fancy accent. "Next time, tell me where that's from." Triangu flies away too.  
Looks like we've entered a new game. The hunt begins.


	3. Let the Games Begin

I took Draco to my mom's lab. He claims when I grabbed the sword, it "entered" his body. He can feel it in his stomach. This is like when those sword swallowers mess up and they actually end up eating it. The two lab boys: James and Edd, scan his body with a scanner. They tried an x-ray, but nothing conclusive showed up. While they were looking over Draco, my mom interrogated me.  
"So you got into another fight with Aliens!?" My mom said.  
"Yes, but I survived, didn't I?" I said back.  
"Draco has a sword in his body!" Mom pointed to him to prove her point. "And now you have entered some hunt?"  
"I don't know what's happening!" I said. "All of this is happening too fast!"  
"God damn!" Edd yelled out of the blue.  
"What is it?" My mom asked.  
"We're picking high AMF fields from Draco's stomach." Edd explained.  
"And some radiation too." James added.  
"Great. I'm going to mutate into a freak or possibly die. Goodbye, Earth, it's been nice living on you" Draco sarcastically said.  
"Relax, Draco, the radiation isn't enough to kill or mutate you." James explained.  
"Oh… Nevermind, Earth." Draco said. Mom sighs and turns back to me.  
"What are you two going to do about this?" She asked me.  
"We don't know yet." I said. What the hell are we going to do? It's not like some expert is going to crash through the ceiling.  
"Something was off about those Draconians though." Draco said to try and break the fight.  
"That they didn't look like they were from your planet?" I asked.  
"No, more like… nowhere. I think I seen them somewhere before." Draco said.  
"Where did you see them?"  
"In a history book when I used to study with the sages. I saw old pictures of how Draconians looked liked before evolution changed us." Draco explained.  
"So wait… Are you saying that…"  
"They are time travelers!?" Edd yelled out before I could finish. My mom comes over and slaps him upside the head.  
"Edd! There is no such thing as time travel." My mom said.  
"Let's not… leave that possibility out." Draco said. He had hard time getting it out after seeing what happens when you act stupid in front of my mom when she's pissed.  
"Draco, for the last time, everything you see on television sometimes can't happen in real life." My mom explained. When Draco first saw a TV show, he actually thought it was real. We had to explain to him that a lot of stuff on there is fictional. The fun was cut short when someone knocked on the door. "Oh shit. Draco. Hide." My mom's co-workers and bosses don't know about Draco. And she doesn't want to explain how an alien is in her office. "Daniel, please limit your visits involving Draco, my bosses were on my ass about locking the doors last time you two were here." Draco turned into his healing mode. I picked him up and put him in my phone hostler while my mom opened the door. My mom fixed herself up and opened the door. But who was there wasn't a co-worker or her boss. It was a familiar face that hunted me and Draco down a couple months ago.  
"Hello, Ms. Knight."  
"Agent Debbs" My mom said before he introduced himself. Agent Debbs is a… well, we don't know what agency he works for, but he was investigating Dan-Draco and seeing if Dan-Draco was a threat.  
"Ha, I see you remember me." He said  
"A mother never forgets when a cop is investigating her son." My mom said back.  
"I'm flattered." Debbs teased.  
"What are you doing here, Debbs?" My mom asked "You still think my son is Dan-Draco? A hero who threatens our national security?" My mom joked.  
"Uhh. No. After the incident with that giant planet destroying robot, my bosses decided to stop looking into Dan-Draco since he stopped it." He explained.  
"So basically, you got nothing?" My mom said. Debbs made a face like he's been caught.  
"Anyway!" Debbs said to try and regain control. "I have to escort your son." Wait, what?  
"Whoa! Escort him? You mean take him downtown!?" My mom shouted.  
"What? No! God, it sounded better in my head. I mean, a colleague of our agency asked for your son and for me to escort him."  
"You think I'm buying that bullshit?"  
"It's not a warehouse if that's what you think. It's a college."  
"And you just happened to be his escort?"  
"I don't know why either. If you don't believe me, then come with us." Debbs finished. My mom turned to me.  
"Honey, I don't think…" She started.  
"Mom, it's ok." I said. I moved to her ear to tell her something else. "If something goes wrong, I can handle it" Mom finally agreed to Debbs proposal and went with us. She put James and Edd in charge while she was gone.

We were in Debbs car. It wasn't like what I was expecting. I was expecting a white cop car. But it was a black classic mustang. Whatever agency he's apart of, he gets serious coin.  
"So who wants to see me?" I ask him. I know my mom was going to ask, but I wanted to be the one asking the questions.  
"His name is Dr. Bowler." Debbs answered.  
"ARE YOU SERIOUS!?" My mom screamed at the top of her lungs. Her reaction was like a fangirl meeting Justin Bieber. She surprised Debbs so much; the car almost went out of control.  
"You know him?" I asked after checking if I went deaf.  
"He's the leading scientist of the world! He's known for his studies on ancient civilizations, space and so much more!" She told me as if I didn't know who the Beatles were.  
"I'm guessing you are one big fan." Debbs said.  
"You have no idea. I envy the bastard." My mom said. "He discovered all these great things. I want to discover something like that."  
"Well we're here." Debbs said. We entered the college grounds. We passed the dorm rooms and are in front of the college itself. It was like most colleges: concrete and gigantic college grounds.

Debbs escorted us to one of those huge rooms that have like, 100 students and one teacher. I think those are lecture halls? Anyway, the place is completely empty. I always thought college students had classes on weekends.  
"He'll be here shortly." Debbs said as he turned for the door.  
"You're not staying?" My mom asked.  
"I was just told to get you here. I have no other orders beyond this point." Debbs said. "Besides, I'm looking into the thief at the museum. Two Draconians and Dan-Draco involved. The investigation could be back on." He then turned to the door and left.  
"Great, looks like I'm on the run again." Draco said. My mom chuckled a little. I didn't respond to Draco's statement. Instead, I looked around the room. I tried to soak in everything in this college. I have one more year of high school left before I have to go to a place like this. I try to imagine this place for of students with the teacher teaching them. Pretty intimating. Both the students and the teacher. I have to take down notes on everything he's saying and be expected to memorize them. But that's one side, what about the teacher's side? Don't they ever get nervous or have a breakdown when in front of these many people? They have got to be trained for that kind of situation or something. How do college students do this everyday? I sit in one of the seats to see how the students feel when in this place.  
"One day, you will be in a room like this." My mom said.  
"If I don't die of the stress first." I said.  
"Anyone else wondering why we were called here anyway?" Draco asked. He's right. Why would the most famous scientist in the world want with me? Maybe I'm the smartest person alive and he wants to take me under his wing. Nahhh, that can't be it. Before anyone can answer Draco, the lights go out and a projector turns on. Slides of some ancient city come on. The location of this city, judging by the background, is in the ocean.  
"What is that?" I asked.  
"My latest discovery." A voice said from behind us. A man in a suit comes down the stairs. Unlike most adults, his shirt wasn't tucked in and he was wearing jeans. Behind him was someone in some hooded robe. It was black with a white line pattern. As she got closer, I realized she was a woman. Her hood was up and she looked indifferent. She didn't recognize our existence. I tried to get a good look at her, by the lights are off and I wasn't at a good angle.  
"Oh my god! Dr. Bowler, it is such an honor to met you." My mom said as she shook his hand vigorously.  
"It's good to meet a fan." Dr. Bowler said. "I'm guessing you are Daniel's mother?"  
"Yes, I am."  
"Interesting" He said. As I looked at him, something about him seems familiar. I don't know why, but I get a bad vibe from him. As he was talking to my mom, I noticed the woman was glaring at Bowler.  
"So what is this discovery?" I asked to break the ice.   
"This city you see on these slides was found in the middle of the Atlantic ocean." Bowler explained as he walked toward where I was sitting.  
"Atlantic?" I asked. "You mean you found Atlantis?"  
"No, not really" Bowler said as he chuckled. He then picked up Draco in his healing mode, which is shaped like a phone, and studied it. I nearly panicked when he did. Why did he just pick him up? His face doesn't seem to be surprised. He sets him down in front of me. "Nice Draconian you have there." Oh crap. He knows? I froze in fear when he found out. My mom did too. After looking at our shocked faces, he bursts out laughing. "Relax, son, you are not in trouble or anything. I already knew you were Dan-Draco."  
"Wait, you did? How?" I asked.  
"I am friends with Debbs. He suspected you would be Dan-Draco. But I needed to make sure if you did have a Draconian with you." Bowler explained.  
"So this is a trap for Debbs to arrest me?" I asked.  
"Oh no, if it was, he would be here. What happens now is between you, me, and your mother." Bowler explained. He seems like a calm and collected person. I don't sense any hostile actions from him. Draco decides to come out of his healing mode and reveal himself since he's already been caught. "Finally nice to see a Draconian in person, Draco." He holds out his hand and Draco does the same.  
"I guess it's an honor to meet someone who doesn't want me dead." Draco joked. Bowler laughed at it.  
"So why go through all of this trouble to get me here?" I asked. Bowler stops laughing and gets serious.  
"Because I need your help. I need Dan-Draco's power." He said.  
"Wait, what?" I asked. He needs our help? He thinks we're a bunch of mercenaries?  
"What makes you think we'll help you?" Draco asked.  
"Because if you don't, Dorado and Triangu will have the world destroyed." Bowler said.  
"What you mean? Is it about the sword they were after in the museum?" I asked.  
"It is called the Sword of Blazikai. It is one of the OOParts they are looking for."  
"OOParts?" Draco asked.  
"Those are known artifacts that are hidden from humanity." I explained. A few games I play have those.  
"Thank you, Daniel" Bowler thanked me. "The sword and the two others are what I believe are Pangaeian artifacts."  
"Pangaeian?" Draco asked again.  
"Pangaea was when all the continents on Earth were connected together millions of years ago until they drifted apart by tectonic plates." I explained to him. "Sorry, Bowler, he's not familiar with Earth's history even though he comes to school with me."  
"I know what Pangaea is, Daniel. I meant what are these Pangaeian artifacts." Draco snapped back. Bowler chuckles at our little fight.  
"I know, you two." Bowler then calms down. "These are Pangaeian artifacts because they date back to that time. This city also dates back to that time. And there lies something the artifacts unlock." I remember back to what Dorado said when he had the sword. 'Ultimate power'.  
"Is it power?" I asked.  
"Sort of, but no. It is a weapon." Bowler said as the slide projector changes to a location in a building of the city and a statue. There is a symbol that is eroded out.  
"A weapon?"  
"A weapon that can destroy the world. The artifacts act as seals for it. If they were gathered, then the weapon would be powered. I want to stop them and study the artifacts." Bowler explained.  
"Why is it Earthlings always build things that destroy their own world? That's stupid; they are on the world they are destroying. You're only making more work to kill yourself." Draco said. "If you everything, then who are Dorado and Triangu? I never saw them before." Draco asked.  
"Ah, that is where things get interesting. Dorado and Triangu are Draconians from that time." Bowler explained.  
"They are from Pangaea?" I asked. That would mean that they are from Earth. Did they come from here? Draco said he knew about Earth before. Maybe they did come from here?  
"So Edd was right, they are time travelers." Draco joked.  
"Actually, they were frozen." Bowler explained. The slide changes to melted ice in the ancient city. "When Uni dug into Earth's core, it released some heat from the Earth's core outward from the faults. At the time, the city was around a fault which thawed the Draconians frozen and released them." That might explain why they look different. Millions of years ago, Draconians looked reptilian, but years of evolution changed that.  
"So what are you asking us to do?" I asked him.  
"I want you to help me gather the artifacts. You already have one inside Draco. I will figure out how to get it out of him. But in the meantime, I would like you guys to gather the rest. I will location them and you can get them." He explained.  
"So you plan on sending my boys to possibly get killed!?" My mom yelled  
"That was why I wanted you here. To see if you'll agree. But if they don't, the other Draconians will get to them. And if that happens, this world is doomed." Bowler explained to her. He's right. If this business if true, then we have to get involved. But this doesn't seem right. I look down at the table with hesitation. "I can understand if you don't want to do it. I'm just telling you the facts. You don't have to answer me right away." He takes out two cards. And hands one to me and one to my mom. "If you decide on wither or not to help me, then call me." My mom doesn't know what to say. She understands that the world is at stake but she, like all mothers, doesn't want to her son in danger. I hear Draco flinch out of control and looks at the door. There was an explosion in the wall. It came out of nowhere and I didn't expect it. The woman Bowler was with quickly gets in front of him and shields him. She seems completely stoic to any of the debris. Mom goes down the stairs to get away from it. "Who's there!?"  
He appears in the hole where he broke through the wall. Even with the lights off in here, I can still get a good look on our attacker from the light outside. He was… human. He looked like he was synched with a Draconian like how Draco and I become Dan-Draco. He had the same black jump-suit I have under my armor. He had no chest-plate. Instead, there was a symbol of a star. It had a light blue circle in the center with five points sticking out like a regular star. His gauntlets, however, were different form mine. On his right arm, was a reptilian-like. It was black with a red part extending to his elbow. His boots were the same color and style as his right gauntlet; extends to his knees. The gauntlet on his left was… much different. His hand was made of some kind of clear blue energy with a bracelet on his wrist. His helmet covered the top part of his head and his black longish hair dropped down. His visor is shaped differently from mine. It was red and was almost shaped like a butterfly; only instead of curves were sharp points. He glares down to Bowler, then to the woman with him, then to my mother. He then glares down at me. Something about him scares the living shit out of me. His glare alone got me frozen with fear. His icy cold eyes of dark yellow stare straight inside of me. The only thing that snaps me out of his trance is him attacking me.


	4. Soldier of Loniness

Draco pushed me out of the way to avoid some energy blast thing that guy launched at me. Who is he? He looks human. No, he is human. Was he in the ice in that city Bowler showed us?  
"Daniel! Snap out of it!" Draco yelled in my ear.  
"R-right." I said as I synched with Draco. After I merged with Draco, the man narrows his eyebrow. Energy charges in his left hand and he launches it at me. I use my wings to dodge and charge at him. I take out my sword and attacked him. He moves his right arm to block it. I managed to push him out of the room. But my sword didn't even crack his gauntlet. And his face was stoic. He didn't even flinch. He stared at me with those dark gold eyes. I now have a good look at him. He looks about my age, maybe a couple years older. He holds his hand to the side and it charges again with energy. He puts his hand near me and explodes on impact. Damage that close to me inflicted a lot to me. I get it up expecting him to charge at me or something. But he doesn't rush. He turns toward me. He holds up his left hand, the one that is surrounded with clear blue energy, and creates a sphere. He gets his right hand and grabs it. The sphere shatters and a sword handle appears. Out from the handle, pure blue energy comes out of it. What kind of sword is that? I never encountered any Draconian or Saurian that use those type of weapons. "Draco, what kind of sword is that?"  
"I-I never seen anything like that. We don't have swords like that." Draco says. If this man is from Pangaea, their weapons must be more advanced than ours. I never understood how ancient civilizations have advanced technology than the modern times.  
The man charges at me. I block his attack and our swords clash. His left hand charges with energy again. He puts it on my stomach and it launches me out the window and onto the college grounds. I struggle to get up from the ground. The man uses his wings to fly down gracefully. He walks toward me. Why not just fly faster toward me? Since he is at a distance, I take out my assault rifle and fire at him. This is when he stops holding back; he unfolds his wings and dodges my shots. I aim steadily, but he is much too fast. Eventually he gets right up to my face. I hold up my rifle, hopefully, to at least wound him, but I can't even pull the trigger. He uses his sword to slash the gun and it breaks apart. The gun shatters, since it is part of the weapon card, it disappears. I pull out my sword right before he attacks. We clash swords again. He doesn't even try to win the struggle in the clash. He grins and his sword starts to phase through mine. What is happening? I don't feel any weight taken off when it is going through my sword. It's not slashing through my sword, its going through it like a ghost. When his sword goes all the way through, it charges with energy and he ferocious slashes me. The sword's blue energy pushes me against a building. The man comes up to me. I pull out my shotgun and try to shoot him at point blank. He unfolds his wings and he flies back into the air right as I pulled the trigger. Point blank and still nothing. He flies at me and I aim to shoot him again. But it didn't make contact; the guy vanished out of thin air.  
"The hell, where he go!?" Draco yelled. I look everywhere, expecting an ambush somewhere.  
"Who is thi—" My sentence was interrupted when I felt something. I look down to see his hand through my body. This man is not of this world. Or any world. I try to look behind me. I see him grinning, then his grin drops to a serious frown. His hand reaches for my head. He grabs it and then energy starts to connect to my head. I felt my brain exploding from the inside. What is he doing to me? I start seeing some images that aren't mine. I see the same city Bowler showed us. It was on fire and there was a war. The man picked me up and threw me aside.  
"This guy is unbelievable!" Draco yelled out.  
"Who are you!?" I finally demanded an answer. He doesn't answer back. "How are you able to do all of that!?" He, again, doesn't answer. He completely ignores my questions and charges his fist again. He throws a punch and out of it, comes energy ball-shaped projectiles all coming for me, I unfold my wings and fly up. I try to dodge the projectiles, but some clip my wings. I fly out of the barrage; I look down at the ground for him. He's no where to be found. "Where is he?"  
"Daniel! Above us!" Draco warns me. I see him high above me. He holds his sword up high and falls down to attack me. I pull out my sword and block it. The force of the clash takes us and smashed us to the ground. I'm on the bottom and he's trying to overpower me. His sword, once again, phases again through mine. After it passes, it charges with energy and he slashes with ferocious fury. I couldn't move or do anything. It was like my body was a rock. Being smashed into the ground plus that attack made me powerless. What is this guy going to do now? He places his foot on my gauntlet. He readies his sword and is about to stab it. Why is he doing this? Why not finish me now? Before he struck, I see a beam hit him. He freezes and screams with pain. His sword drops, and vanishes. He grabs a hold of his head like he's having the biggest brain freeze ever.  
"Daniel!" I hear a voice. I see Bowler with some type of gun with a satellite dish. It looks incomplete, like he's trying to finish this weapon. Why was he making that thing? "Run!" I crawl my way out from under the man and sprinted into a run. I held my side and limbed out of the way. Bowler plays with some buttons and the beam gets stronger and a strong pulse comes out and hits the unknown man. He hits the wall of a college building and electricity arks all over him. He is greatly bruised. He looks over to me and grins. Then he disappears. I panic and look around for him. I pull out my sword and expect him to teleport behind me, above or below, but nowhere. He must have ran. I desynch with Draco and he lays on the ground, exhausted and out of breath. I breathe heavily from that battle. Some of my bruises haven't healed. Usually, when I desynch with Draco, it heals my wounds. But this guy hit me so hard, they haven't healed. What kind of power does this guy have?  
"Danny!" I heard my mom call out as she ran over to me. She starts checking my wounds. The women with Bowler was with, also runs toward him.  
"Mom, I'm fine." I told her. I was obviously lying.  
"Fine!? You got beat up by that… that… whoever he was!" She said seeing my bluff.  
"Who was he?" I said turning to Bowler.  
"I was hoping he wouldn't show now…" He said to himself.  
"You never said anything about that guy, who was he!?" I demanded.  
"I can't let my son go out searching for artifact when that man is trying to kill him!" Mom said considered about my wellbeing. Bowler sighed.  
"His name is Devilwing." He finally said. "He is also after the Pangaeian artifacts. We seen him emerge from the ice he was trapped in. He was most likely after the artifact inside Draco." Draco gulps.  
"Is that why he was after us?" I asked.  
"… Yes." He said. "I can understand that you change your minds complete against helping me" After seeing Devilwing, I would deny his request. I can't fight something like him. But if he's after the thing inside Draco, he'll always come after me until he gets it. I'm put into a corner here. I can't say no. I have to accept either way. I look to my mom. She understands it as well. She puts her hands over her face trying to think of something.  
"Well, I don't have much of a choice now, do I?" I said. Bowler gives a sigh of relieve.  
"Don't worry; we'll stop them from getting the OOParts." Bowler said.  
"By the way, what was that you used on Devilwing?" I asked. Can't believe that didn't cross my mind.  
"I found out his weakness. Mercury" He told me. "This gun turns it into a beam and interrupts with his powers. For some reason, it doesn't work on the Draconians."  
"Isn't Mercury extremely harmful to humans?" Draco asked.  
"Yes, but it weakens him to a stressful point. I'm still figuring out why. I created this to defend against him. It still needs work" He said as he adjusted something in the wiring.

Bowler took us back to my mom's lab. I synched with Draco and headed home. Mom was extremely worried about me on my own. She made sure I called her when I got home. I couldn't get that guy off my head. He was something unlike anything I faced before. He was moments away from killing me. No matter what I did, he would counter it with no problem. I look like an ant fighting a foot. I considered telling the guys what happened. They aren't the type to gossip. They do know about Dan-Draco, should be fair I tell them.  
That night, I was playing an online game with them. Nicole and Selena were, again, busy with college business. So it was just Alex, Jen, Andrew and I.  
"What kind of person fights like that?" Alex said.  
This lead to a conversation that I couldn't focus on. I was still thinking about Devilwing. Throughout the game, I noticed that my hand was shaking. Am… Am I afraid?

The next day, I woke up early. I couldn't sleep because of nightmares. I haven't had a nightmare in forever. I tried to take everything off my mind with games but I'm off my game.  
That afternoon, Selena calls me after weeks of college shit. She was telling me to come hang with her and Nicole at the mall.  
"No excuses!" She told me. Maybe some time with her will get yesterday off my mind.

It took a lot of time to get my mom to let me out, but she finally agreed to let me. I met them on the concert stage. It was empty and no one was around in the area. I told Selena and Nicole about what happened. Their reactions were the same as Andrew and the others. I tried to get past that and tell them that I'll be going around the world to find them. This perks them up.  
"No freaking fair!" Selena said. "I always wanted to travel… I have these shitty college trips to go to."   
"Well, I have to find artifacts and make sure no hunters try to kill me in the progress." I told them.  
"Good, I need something to fight." Selena said. "After the whole Uni thing, Lynx and I never got to fight anything and test our new combos."  
"Sorry, but I don't want end up getting killed" Nicole said. She was drawing something on a sketch pad.  
"You're no fun." Selena teased her.  
"I want to hear more about this sword stuck in Draco's stomach" Lynx finally said.  
"Self-explanatory. Sword stuck in my gut. What else needs explaining?" Draco said back to her.  
"Does it hurt?" Lynx asked  
"No, it's like it is there, but also feels like it isn't" Draco tried to explain.  
"That makes no sense whatsoever." Sags said to him.  
"I don't know, I can feel its power inside me though." Draco said. Draco fell silent and came out of his healing mode. Same with Sags. They look in one direction. All three of us look in the same direction figuring out what they are looking at. I see a man with dark straight hair slowly walking toward us. He had a tan-ish skin color like of a Native American. He was also wearing the same type of robe Bowler's. Why are Draco, Lynx, and Sags revealing themselves to him? And why isn't he freaking out? Does he know? He pulls up his sleeve and reveals a Gauntlet. The same type as I have when I'm Dan-Draco. As soon as he gets in front of the stage he holds up his right arm with the gauntlet. Clear blue energy surrounded him. When it cleared, he gained the Draconian armor that attacked me.  
"Devilwing!" I said realizing he was him. He came here to confront me and finish the job.  
"That's impossible!" Draco exclaimed.  
"What is it?" I asked him.  
"He performed a synch without the need of a Draconian partner!" Draco said.  
"That is impossible." Lynx said.  
"He can… Synch without the need of a Draconian?" I said to myself.  
"Danny…" Selena said "What exactly is he?"  
"I wish I knew." I said. Devilwing starts to charge his fist like last time. He launches a barrage of energy projectiles at us. From the smoke we fly up in our Draconian Knight forms. "This guy is after the sword in Draco!"  
"Three against one, it'll be easy!" Nicole said in her Sagittarius form. She took out her bow and fired an arrow. Selena, as Lynxis, took out her katanas and readied herself. Devilwing simply slashed the arrow with his sword. He glares at me again. That stare again. He flies up to me and attacks. I got my sword and we constantly hit each other's swords. I was about to phase through my sword again like last time, but Selena attacks him. He backs off from our clash and focuses on her. He defends against her attacks. He looks more focused than before. He charges his hand again; this time, instead of a fist to unleash his energy barrage, he does it open handed. He sends a force wave that pushes Selena down to the ground. Nicole fires another arrow. Devilwing slashes it again and swings his sword and unleash a sonic boom at her. Nicole sees it and folds her wings to drop down. She aims again and fires. Devilwing blocks it again. He's starting to get pissed. He charges his fist and fires another barrage at her. I froze in fear. He attacked all of his fury on her and he shows no regret.  
"Having your little angels attack me?" He finally speaks. I didn't know what to say to that. The fact he's ruthless and he's talking for the first time throws me off.  
"So you can speak." Was all I can say. He returns to his frown and readies his sword. An arrow flies out from the ground and hits wing. He gets caught off-guard. Because he has no balance, he falls to the ground. He lands pretty rough. He teleports to Nicole and places his hand on her head. He's doing the same thing he did to me. Energy connects from his hand to her head. When he releases, she falls to the floor. Did he kill her? No, he could have with me yesterday. But he didn't. Maybe she's outcold. Before I could even yell at him, he fires another round of energy missiles at me. I fly towards him dodging each one and finally attacked with my sword. He uses his force push to knock me over. I tuck and roll to maintain momentum and take out my sniper rifle. It was the only weapon he didn't destroy. I fire a few shots, he charges at me, rolling out of the way of each shot. He puts away his sword for some reason. When he gets up to me, he charges his fist again and punches me. He punches me with his other fist. He starts pulling off a fighting game combo ending with a force push that slams me into the wall. The beating was like someone bullying you. I fall to the ground, unable to get up. I get to my knees to try and stand up but that wasn't an option due to Devilwing's boot forcing me down as he takes out his sword again. I feel a pulsing in my head and right arm along with I hear Draco in pain. Not of Devilwing, but of something else. "What are you doing?"  
"… Getting what's mine." He says to me. He readies his sword over my gauntlet containing Draco. The pulsing in my head and arm gets stronger. I can tell Draco is getting the same feeling. Devilwing pulls up his sword to steady it. I look to over Nicole and Selena, both outcold. I noticed Selena is trying to get up. She can't save me now. The pulsing gets harder and harder. My gauntlet starts glowing, energy starts to spill out, a pillar of fire towers around me. It forces Devilwing to back off. I felt the energy of the sword inside Draco, it's alive, and it's merging with us. Flame red armor starts to form around me. My helmet changes to the shape similar to a flame. My sword changes completely. It is now a standard looking blade. It then sets on fire. Similar to Devilwing's sword, mine uses fire. The pillar disperses and reveals the armor to everyone. Selena sees it and is in awestruck. Devilwing looks at it and he looks frustrated. Something feels wrong about the armor. I see everything, but I don't feel in control. Devilwing swings his sword to create another sonic boom. My arm holding the sword rises in the air. I was right, I don't feel in control. I can feel the sword pulsing. I think it's the one in control. The sword slashes the sonic boom and destroys it. The sword rises in the air again, and slams into the ground. A much larger sonic boom charges at Devilwing. He blocks it with his sword. But he is having great trouble holding it in. He groans as the sonic boom overpowers him. He escapes by teleports away. As soon as he's gone, I snap back into reality. I have control of my body again. I move my arm to make sure.  
"Danny!" Selena said as she ran over to me. She looks at my armor. "What… what is this?"  
"I-I don't know." I said back. Nicole walks up to what just happened.  
"Kid, I think it was the sword." Draco said.  
"The sword… created this?" I asked.  
"I think it saved us…"


	5. Mountian Born

After Devilwing's attack, I desynched from Draco and headed back to my mom's lab to, hopefully, figure out what's wrong. Nicole and Selena had more college open houses to go to so they couldn't come with us. Selena hugged me goodbye and we went our way. We didn't fly there because I was worried about the sword. If it can control my body, what's to say it won't go berserk and attack randomly? Best to play it safe and walk there.  
My mom, James, and Edd, put Draco in the scanner again to see any differences between what they found before and what we have now.  
"Damn…" James said when he got the results. "The levels now have grown higher than before."  
"It's not going to kill me is it?" Draco asked.  
"If a normal person had this in their bodies, they wouldn't survive. But you being a Draconian, you have much higher endurance than humans. So I believe you should do fine." James explained. Draco didn't seem so sure of James's theory. James seems to think that because Draco 'isn't human' means that he can survive anything and everything humans can't. Draco isn't immortal. But I know one thing: the sword of Blazikai is alive. If it wanted us dead, it wouldn't even save us when Devilwing was about to kill us. Or maybe it does want us dead and the only reason it saved us was to save itself. My God, we are in a terrible situation.  
"Daniel." My mom says to get my attention. I was apparently 'daydreaming'. "By what you told us, the sword's energy transformed you?"  
"Proof is in the pudding." I said. Can't get much simpler than that. Draco stepped out from the scanner and sat down. My phone was vibrating. I retrieved it from my pocket and looked at the caller ID. It was Bowler.  
"Hold on, guys, Bowler is calling me." I told everyone.  
"Put it on speaker." Both Draco and my mom said. They looked at each other wondering why they both said it at the same time. I answered the call and put it on speaker.  
"Hello?" I said to the phone.  
"Hello, Daniel. Am I calling at a bad time?" Bowler asked.  
"Well, considering I was just attacked by Devilwing and the sword in Draco saved our lives, I think we're doing fine." I explained.  
"Wait, Devilwing attacked again!?" Bowler said with surprise. I explained to him what happened. Everything from our battle to the sword transforming us. "I see…" Was all he said.  
"You wouldn't happen to know about this would you?" I asked him.  
"No, but it is good data. Thank you for that. Now the reason why I called. I believe my contacts have proof that states where an Pangaeian artifact can be found." Bowler said.  
"Really, where?" I asked.  
"The Himalayan mountains."  
"THE WHAT!?" I said very surprised.  
"The mountain range is very old, possibly can even date back to Pangaea itself. There is a chance that there could be some ruins left behind by the inhabitants of Pangaea. The place is vast, and I am certain there is some OOPart there that none of us can find." Bowler explained. "I'm sending the location to your phone. Try starting out there."  
"Why that location in general?"  
"There have been reports of a giant animal rampaging a few villages." Bowler said. "The people think it is the Yeti. But I believe it is a Draconian."  
"How can you be so sure?"  
"Unlike villagers, my contacts can separate fear from reality. Humans' minds tend to blow things out of proportion. Especially in the dark of the night. I hope you'll find something, Daniel." Bowler hangs up.  
"Draco, looks like we're going to a mountain range." I told him.  
"Great, more flying." Draco said.  
"Be careful, dear." My mom told me.  
"I will." I said as I synched with Draco and took off to the sky.

I hovered high in L.A's skyline wondering where to go to.  
"Draco, what is the location?" I asked him.  
"Got it, on the minimap." He told me. I started flying in the direction to the Himalayas. I flew over the city to the beach and started flying out over the ocean. Our usual speed is faster than a commercial airliner. So we should be there shortly. On the way there, I was getting bored of flying. There was nothing but ocean. The map said we'll be there soon. I looked around and started to get hypnotized by the beauty of the ocean and sky. I flew up high to literally touch the sky. I put a hand up and watched as my hand cut through the cloud. "Enjoying yourself there, kid?"  
"The last time we were out in the ocean, we didn't have time to admire the beauty of the ocean and skies." I explained.  
"I'll admit, everything looks better than my planet…" Draco said. "But you do something once, you done it a million times." I flew lower to the ocean and placed my hand in the water and watch it create ripples in the water. I pulled myself back in the air because I remembered that sharks could bite on my finger at any moment. "Wait, you were born in the mountains, right?"  
"Yep. In the village of Breez. It was in the Alp Mountains." I told him.  
"Is it anywhere close to where we're going?" Draco asked me.  
"Not really, the Alps are by Italy. The Himalayas are by India."  
"Breez was one of the cities that were discovered about 15 years ago, wasn't it?"  
"Yea."  
"I looked up Bowler after our encounter with him. I saw an article about him. He was part of the team who discovered them."  
"He did?" I said surprised.  
"He was the one in charge too."  
"Anything else that article said?"  
"Just that he's one of the best scientists and archeologists."  
"I just remembered something, Draco, call Selena." I told him.  
"Inviting your girlfriend to a search with us?"  
"Shut up and she wanted to join us anyway."  
"Hmhm. Right." Draco connected our helmet to Selena's phone.  
"Hello?" Selena whispered.  
"Selena, I wanted to tell you that I'm heading to the Himalayas." I told her nonchalantly.  
"WHAT!?" She yelled. There was a voice in the background telling her to get off her phone. There was a silence for a second. "What the hell are you talking about!?" She whispered as much as possible.  
"… Oh right!" I said facepalming myself remembering she doesn't know. "Bowler sent me to the Himalayas to find a Pangaeian artifact."  
"But, gahhh" Selena said. "Why now? I'm doing this shitty college tour thing."  
"Draco will send you the location we're heading to, join us when you get the chance." I told her.  
"Gahhhh." She said and then sighed. "Okk. I'll see you later." She hanged up.  
"Looks like your girlfriend won't join us." Draco teased me.  
"Shut up!"

We flew over the mountain range. It was around morning and it was still night over here since it is on the other side of the world. We were looking for the location Bowler told us to go to. It was extremely hard to find because of the snow. But I know my way around mountain ranges. My dad used to take me out hiking around the mountain pathways. He taught me how to find my way back home. I can find a village on the ground easily. As Dan-Draco, it's a whole lot easier.  
We find the village we were looking for.  
"That's the village near the ruins Bowler wants us to look at." I told Draco.  
"Maybe we should ask around the ruins before we start." Draco told me.  
"Let's desynch. I don't think people will like the sight of us." I suggested.  
"Good idea." He said. I landed in the village at what looked like the town square and desynched from Draco. As soon as I desynched, I started to freeze. I completely forgot that is was cold as hell up here.  
"Dear God, how can I forget? It's extremely cold in the mountains." I said.  
"I thought you lived in the mountains? Aren't you used to this?" Draco asked me.  
"I haven't been in the mountains for a long time." I explained. "Let's change back and look for the ruins ourselves."  
I heard a voice from behind me. I looked behind me to see a girl around my age talking in another language. She was Asian, I could tell by her eyes, but her skin was slightly darker than most Asians I seen around my school or on the internet. Her black hair was tucked under her snow cap. She wore a heavy winter jacket and had heavy-looking boots on to protect her feet from the cold of the snow. The Himalayas span over five countries. There a number of languages they speak up here. And I have no clue which one she is speaking. What should I say? 'Hi, I'm looking for a Pangaeian artifact that could destroy the world. Do you know where it is?'?  
"Uh, I'm sorry… I don't speak… whatever it is you're speaking." I said the best I could.  
"Oh, you speak English?" The girl said. It was hard to pinpoint her accent. It was either Indian or Chinese or anything else. "Why are you out here in the morning without a jacket? Come inside." She spoke perfect English. I didn't think they spoke it up here.

She gave me a jacket and some hot chocolate. I was in a living room with a fireplace. From the air, this is the biggest building. So it might be the village leader's house. And she might be his daughter. The place had a very Indian feel to it. There were straw dolls on the fireplace and the wall had some Buddhists on the top  
"Sorry, I'm not around here." I told her to try and break the ice.  
"I figured. No one around here just comes outside without some real cover." She jokily said. "But even if you are a tourist, why would you come outside without a jacket?" Crap, she has me in a corner. What should I tell her?  
"Uhh, I was sleepwalking." I said. "I woke up when I realized it was freezing."  
"Is that so?" She said pouring a cup of tea for herself.  
"I never got your name." I said out of curiosity.  
"My name is Carla. I am the chief's daughter in case you haven't noticed." That explains why this place seemed more luxurious than the rest of the village.  
"My name is Daniel Knight." I said as I bowed over as a way of respect.  
"Well, Daniel, you seemed to have a high tolerance for the cold." She said teasing me. I chuckled a little.  
"I was raised in the Alp mountain range. So I'm used to the cold. But it has been a while since I been up this high." I explained. Carla had a sip of her tea after she let it cool.  
"By the way, I noticed you were talking to yourself… What was that about?" She asked.  
"Uhh" Now what do I say? "I think that was part of the dream I was having."  
"Say no more. I know about you guys and your little 'fantasies'" She said chuckling a little. I don't know what she meant, but I don't want to know either. At least she stopped asking questions.  
"Actually I want to know something about your village." I told her.  
"What is it?"  
"Are there any ruins of any sort around?" I asked. Her face was like I caught her off-guard.  
"Why do you want to go there?" I heard a voice from a doorway. I saw a middle aged man. He wore Buddhist robes and was balding. He had crows' feet all over his face. He must be the chief and Carla's father. He's asking me a question, what do I say?  
"I just like exploring." I said. He came closer to me and closes his eyes.  
"You are lying." He said. How did he know? "You are here searching for a great power." Well, he has me; might as well tell the truth.  
"… In a way I am. But not to rule the world like most bad people, I trying to prevent that." I told him. He must be reading my spiritual energy… Not sure if that is the case. He could be just really good at detecting lies on people. He closed his eyes again.  
"Now that, my friend, is true."  
"I'm looking for an artifact from Pangaea." I told him seeing if he knew. I hope he understood what I was saying. He may know some English, but it sounded broken almost.  
"The ruins nearby have had a legend of holding such an artifact. They do date back to what you describe as Pangaea." The chief said. "However, no one can go near it for two reasons: it is a shrine to our ancestors. We go there to pray and meditate."  
"I respect your culture, and I wouldn't want to taint your shrine. But I do need to investigate that shrine." I tried to reason. The chief laughs.  
"Don't worry, tourists are allowed to see it. But the other reason is why you can't go. The yeti has been rampaging the shrine. We can't go out until he moves on or we find another solution." He said.  
"Don't worry; I can take care of myself." I said as I stood up. "Just tell me where it is and I'll take care of your yeti problem." The chief closes his eyes.  
"But you can't go out there! The yeti is a monster that'll kill everyone and anyone that stands in its way!" Carla tries to tell me. The sun starts to rise from the horizon. It was just afternoon in L.A. God damn international time zones. They confuse me to no end.  
"The sun is out, you may go. My daughter will escort you there. If you are a protector like you claim you are, then protect us from the monster." He said. I wasn't sure if I could solve the yeti problem. But this doesn't seem like it's the job of a yeti. I feel like something else is at play here. I gave the chief a bow and headed for the door with Carla. "And Daniel." I turn back to him. "Make sure you wear a jacket this time" He said laughing at his own joke. I didn't find it funny.  
"Just laugh." Carla said as we both gave a forced laughter.

Carla took me to the shrine. This time, I brought a heavy jacket. There were a few pillars made of actual stones placed on top and glued together with small triangle flags flying with the wind. The only things here were these pillars. But they looked destroyed.  
"The yeti has been here recently." Carla told me. I looked around for something relating the OOPart. Nothing here looks like it. "Daniel, how do you plan rid the village of the yeti?" How do I answer this question?  
"That… is hard to answer." I said. "If it happens, you'll see." My phone starts to vibrate again. I reach for it and look at the caller ID. Selena is calling me.  
"A friend is calling you?"  
"Yes, amazing that I can get a signal out here."  
"We may be a village, but we still connected with the world." I picked it up and answered  
"Hello?"  
"DANNY!!!!" Selena yelled angrily in my ear.  
"Gah." I said as I reacted sharply to her yelling.  
"Now, what did you say about going to the Himalayas!?" Selena asked.  
"An OOPart might be here at a shrine. I'm looking for it now."  
"I am on my way; I want to see the beautiful mountains!!"  
"Selena, we're trying to save a planet here. We can sight-see later." I said. I hear something being smashed nearby.  
"Daniel, I hear something." Carla said.  
"Who's there?" Selena asked  
"Carla. She's escorted me here." I explained. The smashing gets louder. "I got to go."  
"Danny, wa-" I hanged up. We ran toward the sound and saw someone smashing up the shrine looking for something.  
"It's the yeti." Carla said.  
"It's not the yeti." I said. The 'monster' was Dorado. He's smashing up the shrine. He must be looking for the Pangaeian artifact.  
"You know him?" Carla asks me. Dorado starts throwing a tantrum.  
"For the love of Dracon, where is it!?" Dorado yells. He turns around and sees us. "I have no time to deal with you! Get out of here!!" He inhales deeply and breaths fire right at us. I take Carla's arm and take her out of way and around the corner.  
"To answer your question, yes." I answered.  
"What is he? He looks familiar." She said. "He looks like those alien things that attacked the United States!" She must be referring to when Uni attacked the city a few months ago. At least the people up here are connected to the world. I peek around the corner to see if Dorado is after us. He continues to what he was doing before. He must think we ran.  
"Correction: Those were Saurian." I corrected her.  
"How do you know who they are?" She asked.  
"I, uhhh, dealt with them a couple of times."  
"How do you deal with something like that!?"  
"Carla, go back to the village, I can deal with him."  
"I was told by my father to escort you! Why would I leave you with that thing?" She said. She's stubborn. She won't leave. Looks like I got no choice.  
"Promise not to tell anyone?" I asked her.  
"… Of course." She said.  
"I'm serious, no one. None of your friends, no one on the internet, not even your father. I can't have this spread around so much." I told her being extremely specific as possible so she won't find any loopholes.  
"…" Carla hestitated after I included her father. She must be very close to him. Enough to tell each other everything and I'm asking her to not tell her the truth. I don't know, maybe her father can keep a secret.  
"Ok, maybe your father, but no one else." I added.  
"I promised." She said instantly.  
"Stand back." I told her. She took a few steps back. I took out Draco in his healing form. "Draco… Synch on." I synched with Draco to transform. Carla freaked out, but covered her mouth remembering that there is a 7 foot tall Draconian around the corner.  
"Wait… that armor?" She asked herself "You're that Dragon Knight overseas." Dragon knight? I kind of like the sound of that.  
"Yea. This is how I fight people like him. Now go, I can take care of this." I told her. She nods in agreement. She starts to run back to the village. She looks back at me before disappearing off to the distance.  
"You sure it was a good idea to tell her our secret?" Draco asked me.  
"Only way to get her off my back." I told him. "Besides I trust her. Now to deal with Dorado." I flew up into the air and flew straight back down toward Dorado. He sees me coming and dodges. I land in the snow and take out my sword.  
"You again?" Dorado said.  
"Dorado, you are the one that terrorizing the village below?" I demanded from him.  
"I'm only looking for the artifact. I'm not even killing humans unless they get in the way."  
"They will if you keep destroying the shrines!"  
"So a few structures get destroyed, who cares?"  
"The people around here will care."  
"Get out of my way!" Dorado breaths fire upon me again. I unfold my wings and fly up in the air. How can he breathe fire and yet Draco can't? The rock melts from the flames. I attack Dorado with my sword. He blocks it with his staff blade. He swings it and throws me. I land in the snow waiting for his attack. He looks over to the melted rock. The rock wall is surrounded by static. "The hell?" The wall shatters and a cave opens up. "That's it!" Dorado flies right past me and into the cave.  
"Hey! Wait!" I yell out to him.  
"Danny!" I hear someone yell my name. I look toward the direction it's coming from and I see a crimson figure flying toward me. As it gets closer, I see that it's Selena. "What's happening?"  
"Danny! He's getting away!" Draco tells me. I unfold my wings and chase after him. Selena follows me. Dorado got a massive head start. The cave is lilt barely and he disappears.  
"Dorado found the entrance to the artifact!" I inform Selena. We keep going until I encounter three pathways. "Crap, which way?" I ask Draco and Selena for advice. "Draco, do you sense the OOPart?" Maybe Draco can be a compass and point us in the right direction. Draco remains silent to focus on the artifact.  
"Kid, I don't sense anything; Dorado or any artifact." Draco tells me.  
"Lynx, can our maps show us the way?" Selena asks Lynx.  
"No, we're getting interference. I can't map the way." Lynx answers her.  
"We'll have to pick a path and go that way." I told everyone. "We'll go down the middle." I walk to the middle path and take out my sword. I make an arrow pointing to the entrance. "Mark the way back incase we get lost."  
"Nice idea, kid." Draco told me. We unfold our wings and go down the middle path. The path goes a long way. We go through what feels like twists and turns until we hit another crossroad. In the center of this crossroad, was some kind of antenna. We walked up to the antenna. I touched it trying to feel it.  
"What is this?" I asked hoping for an answer.  
"What the hell?" Draco said.  
"What is it?" Selena asked.  
"It's a cloaking generator." Lynx answered.  
"It creates something Draconians call 'Solid Vision'. Holograms those are actually real. Infiltrators use it for their disguises." Draco explained.  
"That was the only scale we could make. We couldn't do walls or such. We had these things to power an Infiltrators' disguise." Lynx added.  
"Wait, Danny, the cities Bowler discovered. These devices were found in the center of each city." Draco figured out.  
"Then this one…" Selena started to say.  
"… Is the same as the ones in the cities. Which means whoever cloaked the cities are the same ones who hid the OOParts." I finished for Selena. This is starting to get crazy. The more we get into this, the bigger this little conspiracy gets. Is there a reason our ancestors hid these artifacts besides what Bowler told me? What about the cities? Do they hold the same kind of power? I shake my head to snap myself back to reality. I look at the pathways to see which one to take. I noticed that there is one passage with a torch right at the entrance. Maybe this is a way for our ancestors to find their way back. I take out my sword and mark the cave. "This way." We unfold our wings and fly into the cave. I couldn't stop thinking how everything Bowler discovered is all connected somehow. How is it connected? Maybe Devilwing or Dorado knows? I doubt I can get the answer out of them. Triangu seems more relax than the two. We exited the pathway and enter a large dome shaped area. In the middle of this room, is a pyramid, except it didn't have its pointy top. Selena was in awe of the beauty of it.  
"Woww…" She said. "It's so beautiful." She flies on top of it and sits on the top stair. She hums a little tune and makes a short beat on the stone. I fly up next to her and stand by her.  
"Trying to write a song?" I asked.  
"Yeah. Seeing if the beauty of this place will inspire me." She said as she took some pictures using her phone. I look down at the base of the pyramid and see another entrance.  
"I guess that's our way to the main center of the mountain." I pointed out.  
"Already?" Selena asked. Right out of the corner of my eye, Dorado flies right by us.  
"Yes, finally made it out!" He yelled.  
"He's going to get to the artifact!" Draco exclaimed.  
"Selena, come on!" I told her as I followed Dorado. I follow him to a shorter pyramid. He is in front of a chest.  
"Yes! The OOPart is all mine!" He yelled as he opened it. His face was that of surprise. "What the… It's not here!"  
"What?" I asked.  
"We came here for nothing?" Lynx asked herself.  
"I knew it. My theory was correct." Draco said.  
"What are you talking about!?" Dorado asked Draco.  
"I didn't sense any thing in here. I knew I could sense the artifacts when I sensed the sword at the museum. Since there was nothing here, I guess the artifact isn't here." Draco explained.  
"NO, NO, NO!" Dorado yelled. "If that is the case, then I'll have to take your OOPart, Dan-Draco!" He throws the chest at us. Selena cuts the chest with her katanas. Dorado takes out his staff blade and smashes it on the ground creating a shockwave. The shockwave causes the ceiling to collapse and roof in on us. "Well that was easier than I thought." The artifact inside Draco starts to react and glow. It transforms us again into the form we used against Devilwing. I use its power to blow the rock away. I decided to call this form Blaze Swordsman. "What the hell? The sword gave you that!?" The fire in the sword acts up and I fly high and slash down to the ground. The sword creates a gigantic blaze slash. It hits Dorado and the pyramid behind him. We wait for the smoke to clear. When it does, Dorado is gone.  
"He escaped." Draco pointed out the obvious.  
"Should we find him?" Selena asked.  
"There's no point in it." I said. "The artifact isn't here. Time to head home."  
"Danny, can we look around the mountain range and the village before we go?" Selena asked me. I knew why she wanted to. She asked me to come with me on this little adventure so she can see the world and write a song while she's at it.  
"Ok, we'll stay a while." I answered.

After we got out of the mountain, I called Bowler to report the mission.  
"Daniel, did you find the artifact?" He asked me  
"No, the artifact wasn't here." I told him.  
Bowler sighed and was silent for a second. "You sure it wasn't there?"  
"We're certain."  
"Ok, I guess I'll have to keep searching. Thank you and good work, you can head back home." He said before he hanged up.

We walked down to the village. Dorado has no reason to stay. So he'll probably leave this area alone.  
"I want to see someone while we're down there" I told Selena.  
"Ok." She responded.

We headed to the chief's house. Carla answered the door. She was relieved to see me.  
She speaks something in another language and hugs me. It must have translated to "Oh my god". Selena's face was a little angry from seeing this. "How did it go?"  
"Oh, he killed me and I am the spirit of myself coming to haunt you." I sarcasticly said. As I said that, I realized that she probably wouldn't get it. But she actually laughed.  
"So I'll take that as you took care of our village problem?"  
"Dorado has no reason to be here." I said.  
"Perfect." Out of the corner of the room, I see her father. God such a creepy bastard hiding in dark corners. "And you got what you came here for?"  
"No, it wasn't here, unfortunately." I told him.  
"Such a shame you are leaving empty handed. But thank you for taking care of our monster problem." He said.  
"No problem." I told him.  
"You can come back to the village whenever you want." He told us.

Selena and I stayed a while longer. She loved the mountain range and the scenery. When afternoon started to come, we decided to leave. By the time we got back, it'll be night in L.A.

Before we separated to our homes, Selena gave me a quick peck on the cheek and thanked me for the trip.

I got to say. It was nice to visit a place like home.


	6. Trail by Sword

It's amazing how people still rob banks. I can't believe they still do that. The man looked about 20, natural tanned skin, and a 5 o'clock shadow. He had a hostage at gun point so the police wouldn't come after him. The hostage was a blonde woman wearing a uniform; probably worked for the bank. The man walked backwards holding the woman, keeping an eye for the cops. I land right behind him. He hears me and turns around. I grab him, the reaction to me grabbing him causes him to let go of the woman, and throw him to the ground.  
"Run." I tell the woman. She quickly runs off. I face the man. "Really, dude? Robbing a bank? That has been done in just about every single movie and TV show alive."  
The man tries to recover and out his pistol. I react and take out my sword. I felt my gauntlet glowing and a pillar of fire washed over me. I transformed into my Blaze Swordsman form. The sword has been doing this recently. Transforming us on its own. The man freaks out and surrenders. I hear the police sirens. I fly up onto the building and the police handle the situation. They take the gun and carry him away.  
"Draco, the sword is doing it again." I tell him.  
"I know. I thought we could control it, but it continues to evade our control." Draco tells me.  
I see a mirror on the building and take a good look at myself. The crimson red armor and the sword. The sword blazing fire.

On the way back home, I get a call from Bowler through my helmet.  
"Daniel, I found the location of a possible artifact." He explains.  
"Where this time?"  
"The pyramids in Egypt"  
"Are you kidding me!? That's a long flight!"  
"I know, but you can make it there." He hangs up. First the Himalayas, now Egypt. He wasn't kidding when he said these artifacts were scattered throughout the world.

Before heading to Egypt, I flew back home and have some leftover Chinese noodles with my mom. Draco decides to try some. I heat my noodles up and gulp them down. Draco however plays with his food a little like its poison or something.  
"Daniel, slow down already." My mom tells me.  
"I am slowing down." I tell her with my mouth full. She doesn't understand my love for Chinese.  
"No, you're not." She told me back.  
"You should really slow down, kid." Draco said. He finally starts eating. "Hm… This ain't bad" Of course, ignoring Draco and my mom's advice, I gulp down the noodles. How can I not? After a few gulps, I start coughing. "Told you."  
"I told you." My mom tells me as she pats my back to clear my throat up. I shallow down.

I left home and took flight. As I flew up, I was coughing a little due to the noodles.  
"You should really slow down." Draco commented.  
"I'm fine." I told him. I stopped and hovered. "Any idea how to get to Egypt faster?"  
"I have an idea. Try flying high into the atmosphere. Maybe we'll get there faster." Draco said.  
"You sure we can still fly in space, even if we're still outside atmosphere?" I asked.  
"Yea, we did it before, remember?" Draco reminded me. He's referring to when we chased Terraflight outside the Earth's atmosphere. I was so focused on getting him, I didn't even think about how we survived in space. I decided to trust Draco's judgment. My filter mask covered my mouth and I flew in the direction of Egypt. I flew higher up to the atmosphere as I headed to Egypt. I climbed past the clouds. The clouds were moist and made my armor wet, but that didn't stop me. As I past the clouds, I could see the stars. I saw scenes like these in movies but seeing it in person was beyond description. I felt extremely cold because of the low temperature. I thought my armor was supposed to keep my body at room temperature.  
"D-D-Draco." I shivered and shuttered.  
"I got it" He said. After a few seconds, I felt warmer. "I transferred the gauntlet's energy to the temperature settings in the armor. I'll change it back when we get there." I continued flying. I continuously stared at the stars. Its beauty has encaged me.

It took a couple of hours. Like last time, it was about 7 a.m here. I flew over the massive hills, oversaw the dessert. It was like I was in a completely different world. I was used to the mountains and the city. But this is another story. Everything, everywhere, is sand and sun. Draco lowered the power of the temperature in the armor.  
"Well, crap." I said as I stared at several pyramids. "How the hell do we find it?"  
"I guess we go in each Pyramid and let the OOPart inside me guide us." Draco suggested. I looked around deciding which to start. I decided to go to the one nearest us.  
"Draco, these pyramids are practically one giant maze. You sure we can find our way inside?"  
"Don't worry. The gauntlet has an Echo-location feature. It'll map out the pyramid."  
We entered the pyramid. We went as far as the tourist lines go. Luckily, there weren't people around yet. I guess it's too early. We ended up in a long tunnel. I turned on the flashlights in the helmet so I can see. Draco mapped out the pyramid. It is long and confusing. Thank God I had this thing.  
"Hey, Danny, is it true that when you set foot in a pyramid, you are cursed by the dead?" Draco asked me.  
"What? Who told you that?"  
"TV."  
"I told you, don't believe everything you see. Of course it isn't true. How can a person even make a curse?" I reasoned.  
"I've heard that when the humans discovered King Tut's tome, a sandstorm came shortly after."  
"That had nothing to do with it." I told him. We past by a corridor. At the corner was a statue of what looked like a man with a dog head holding an ax.  
"Who is this guy?" Draco asked about the statue.  
"I think Ancient Egyptians built these things to guard the tombs." I told him. Draco chuckled a little.  
"How is thing suppose to guard the tombs? It's a statue!" Draco laughed at the irony of it. As soon as he did, the arm holding the statue dropped and nearly slashed us. I flinched and backed away. "Ok, nevermind! I was kidding great spirit of the pyramid!"  
"D-Draco. Relax; the arm on the statue was probably loose." I reasoned. I continued my way past the statue. To keep it safe, I fast walked.  
"Still think the pyramids aren't cursed?" Draco asked me.  
"Yes, yes I do. Unless I see ghostly figures, I won't believe it."  
I walked some distance. Draco isn't picking anything up yet. We don't know the range of the OOPart's 'radar'. Out of nowhere, I hear voices. I look around and don't hear anything. As soon as I walked again, I hear it again.  
"Draco, stop it."  
"What?"  
"I know you're making voices to get me to think this place is cursed."  
"Wait… That voice wasn't you?"  
"… Wait, you didn't make that voice?" I said nervously. I slowly turned around and a man in Ancient Egyptian clothing right in front of me. He looked like he hasn't eaten in forever. I was shitting myself. He lifts up his arm. I freak out and fly back toward the entrance.  
"Danny! Danny! Wait a sec!"  
"SCREW THIS! YOU WIN THIS PLACE IS HAUNTED!" I found the entrance, flew right back outside and stopped at a small pond. I got down on my knees and tried to catch my breath.  
"Danny! What is wrong with you!?"  
"That place is freaking haunted!"  
"Danny! Get a grip!"  
"How can I get a grip!? I'm cursed, I'm going to die!"  
"Danny! Listen! I sensed a Draconian in the pyramid! I think he was trying to scare us out." Draco told me. I stopped getting all panic-ie and stood up.  
"Why that little bastard! Do you know who it was?"  
"I believe it was Triangu's signature I sensed."  
"That little shit is going to pay."

I flew back into the pyramid. Draco located Triangu and I set out to find him. No one makes me shit my pants and gets away with it. No that I actually did shit my pants.  
I found a hallway and I see him. He looks over his shoulder and sees me.  
"Ahh, Dan-Draco." He says to me.  
"Triangu. You're here for the OOPart too, I bet." I said.  
"Yes, I saw you come here so I decided to give you a welcoming party."  
"So the statue about to kill us?" Draco asked  
"My piece of work, just had loosen a few bolts." Triangu said.  
"The voices?" I ask.  
Triangu imitates a creepy voice. It echoes throughout the hallway making it scarier. "I dabble"  
I clap my hands slowly. "Bravo, oh and the Pharaoh Ghost guy, I bet you used a high tech hologram, didn't you?"  
Triangu has a stumped looked on his face. "Pharaoh? That I do not know." Wait, he didn't make that Pharaoh guy? Triangu prepares his claw blades. "I'm sorry about this, kid, you seem like a nice guy and great warrior, but I need the Pangaeian artifact." He throws one blade at me. I side-step and dash at him. I take out my sword and we collide and lock swords. The blade he threw comes back. I use my wings to launch myself to the left. The blade comes back and attaches itself. He swipes his claw at me. I block it with my sword. I reach for the gauntlet and touch a weapon icon. Out of my other hand, my single-shot assault rifle comes out. This and a sniper rifle are the only weapons I have thanks to Devilwing. I take it and shoot him a few times. After the first two times, He flinches and uses his wings to get out of the way. He throws two blades at me again. One hits the arm with my sword and sticks it to the wall. The other hits my assault rifle. The blade takes it out of my hand and breaks it. The gun shatters and so does its weapon card.  
"Come on, man! I'm running out of weapon cards!" I yell at him.  
"Back in my day, we didn't have those fancy cards. We had to carry the weapons." Triangu said. The other blade comes back to him. He throws it again and it restricts me to the wall. "Now I'll take your OOPart now." He takes his remaining claw blade. He throws it at me. I try to get out but the other blades restrict me. I thought it was the end. But my gauntlet starts glowing again and Draco groans a little.  
"About time." I said.  
The fire pillar shoots up again. The blade that was about to hit me goes off course and the two restricting me come off the wall and goes back to Triangu. The Sword gives me its armor again. The fire disburses, showing Triangu the Blaze Swordsman armor.  
"So this is the power of the Sword? Interesting, but does it accept you?" He said as he dashes at me. I parry it with the Sword and slash the air making a Fire Wave at him. The fire spatters all over him. While he's stunned, I launch to attack him.  
Right when the Sword was in within inches of his face, it freezes in midair.  
"What the hell?" I said in confusion. The Sword starts to control itself. Just like when I first transformed. It goes out of control, fighting to release my control. "No! Stop! What's happening?"  
"Like I said, the Sword hasn't accepted you yet." Triangu said.  
The Sword goes all over the place. The fire goes out of control. Triangu flies away from me to continue searching. The Sword hasn't accepted me? What is he talking about? It doesn't trust me?  
The Sword's fire starts to go insane. It continues to fight against me. "STOP!" The Sword takes my arm and starts flying me to the exit. I try to make it turn but its not budging. It takes us outside and keeps going. We lower to the ground and it forces me to run with it. Where is it going? "For the love of God! STOP!"  
"Danny! I'm desynching!" Draco warns me.  
In an instant, we desynch and I am my regular self. I fall to the ground. I get up and cough the sand out. Now that I am desynched, I instantly become hot due to the dessert. I hear Draco groaning in pain loudly. I look at his healing mode pod. He's in great pain. He gets out of his healing mode, which isn't helping at all. He's on the ground curled into a ball clutching his stomach. "Draco!"  
"I think those noodles don't agree with me." Draco joked.  
"We both know that it isn't the noodles." I said. I helped him to the pond we were at earlier. Draco sits down, recovering. "Draco, what's happening?"  
He avoids eye contact.  
"It's the Sword isn't it?" I guess.  
"Yes. It hurts more and more as we transform. Sometimes, it hurt at the most randomness times." Draco says gripping his stomach more.  
"Sounds like a girl on her period." I said to lighten the mood. Draco chuckles a little. But the mood turns back to serious. "Why haven't you me or mom?"  
"Because you couldn't figure it out anyway. This is like when you choked on the noodles."  
"What? Those are two completely different situations!" I yell at him. "And how can you not trust us? You can tell us anything. We'll find a way to get this thing out of you without killing you."  
Draco looks at me. He looks toward the pyramid and then tackles me to the ground as a blue fist hits the ground where stood. We look to where the attack came from. From the top of the pyramid was him.  
"Devilwing!" I yell. He charges his fist and launches a barrage of energy missiles at us. They hit the ground around us and the force of the blast knocks me into the pond. "Draco! Let's try to synch again!"  
"What if the Sword takes control?" He asks  
"We don't have a choice." I said. We synch together once again. This time I have control once again. Best to not use the Sword's power. Devilwing charges his fist, flies up, and falls to the ground fist-first. It sends a shockwave that kicks up sand in the air. I cough out the sand in my mouth. When I bite down, I can feel the sand. God it tasted awful. Lizards probably crap on this. Good thing the visor protects my eyes. From the sand cloud, Devilwing comes charging at me. He punches me in the gut and then proceeds to do a combo on my body. Him punching me is incredibly painful. Reminds me of Elementary school. He finishes by grabbing my head and throwing me toward the pyramid. I scrabbled to get up. "Without the Sword, we're dead."  
"We don't need it, we can figure this out!" Draco told me.  
Devilwing walks towards me. He creates a ball of energy, crushes it, and forms his sword. I take out my sword as well. I dash at him and clash swords. He moves to the left, forcing me to go past him. He uses his wings to come at me and phase his hand through me. "Time to put you out." I hear him say. His hand grabs my head. I can feel something in my brain connected to something. It feels painful. When He's done with me, he throws me back. Last thing I feel is the impact.

I lay down relaxing. Selena gets on top of me and grins. She lowers herself until our faces are inches from each other. She tells me something but I can't hear. She leans in to kiss me.

I violently wake up. I expect the battle that Devilwing and I are doing. But I wake up as my regular self, without merged with Draco, in the dessert. I don't feel any heat. I feel normal. The dessert itself is white; I can still feel the sand in my feet. I look around me. Behind me is something strange. The Sword of Blazikai sticking out of the ground. Not actual size, but rather gigantic size. On the very zenith of the Sword, I see what is going on. I see my body, my eyes clouded. Draco calls my name. He tries to take control of my body. But all he can control is my right arm. He manages to lift my body up. Devilwing launches another barrage of energy missiles at my body. Draco jerks my arm to try and dodge but it was useless. My body gets hit and is laying on the ground  
"Draco…" I said horrified.  
Devilwing prepares his sword. I know what he plans to do.  
"DRACO!!!" I yell hoping for an answer.  
The Sword starts glowing in a fierily orange glow. A stream of fire comes down from the Sword and goes down in front of me. A smaller version of the Sword of Blazikai is created. I look at the original Sword. I now understand: for it to accept me, I must prove myself. I grab the smaller Sword and struggle to pull it out. I pull harder and harder but it is not moving. I glance up to the top of the gigantic sword. Devilwing is about to kill Draco, me included. I pull as hard as I could. I feel a budge. Yes! I pull harder and it slides on out. I raise the sword in the air. The gigantic sword begins to dissolve into nothing. The whole plane turns red and orange fire.

I find myself in my own body. Devilwing is about stab me. I focus myself. A pillar of fire surrounds me, forcing Devilwing to back off.  
"Danny?" Draco asks for an answer.  
"I got it in control." I tell him.  
"I don't feel the pain… What did you do?"  
"I'll tell you later."  
The fire cancels out and I am in the Blaze Swordsman armor. Devlwing gets a worried face. "No. This shouldn't happen." Devilwing panics and slices the air creating a sonic boom. I slash the attack. This time, it was me who did it, and not the Sword. I understand what Triangu meant by the Sword didn't accept me. I had to prove myself to it so I can use its power.  
"That won't work anymore." I told him.  
Devilwing charges at me and so do I. We slashed each other. Devilwing cut up my leg forcing me to go down on one leg. I, however, cut his sword. I don't know how I cut an energy sword, but it didn't regenerate. The fire in this sword is some powerful shit.  
"No… He learned to master the Sword's power!" Devilwing said to himself. I slashed the air creating a fire wave and hit him. Devilwing panicked and teleported.  
"Danny… How did you… get the Sword under control?" Draco asked me.  
"I had to prove to it that we are worthy." I told him. I heard a large thud from the pyramid. I see Triangu fall out from the pyramid and crash landing on the ground in front of me. He sees me in my Blaze Swordsman armor and gets up. He studies me carefully. "I'm guessing you didn't find the OOPart?"  
Triangu takes a while to answer. "I've looked in all the pyramids in the area. It is not here."  
I look at my gauntlet, containing Draco. "He's telling the truth." He confirmed.  
I grip my sword expecting Triangu to kill me for my OOPart. But he just stands there studying me.  
"Well, I guess I'm out" He takes off and flies away.  
"Danny, we're not going after him?" Draco asked me.  
"He wasn't trying to kill us this time… He doesn't have the OOPart. I think it's safe to let him go."

I fly back home. Bowler was disappointed that the OOPart wasn't there. But I consider this a victory: I managed to control a great power.


	7. Shroud of Pangaea

"Gah!! Not again!" I yelled as I licked my finger to heal the burn.  
"I keep telling you to fit them together." Draco instructed me while he was playing a game.  
"I am doing that, but this torch makes it unbearable."  
"Welcome to my world." I was trying to repair the weapon cards that got broken due to my battles with Devilwing and Triangu. Draco has experience with this type of stuff. But he insisted on teaching me how to do it. "It is not that hard, you have to connect the currents together and keep the outer edges straight so it can insert inside the gauntlet."  
I grab the tweezers and a magnifying glass. I use the tweezers to connect the wires together. The wires seamlessly connect together automatically. I use the torch to reconnect the edges. The end result looks sloppy.  
"Let me see." Draco said as he grabbed it. He put it in his gauntlet and the shotgun materializes. Looks like I got it. Draco still looks at it with not much satisfaction. "You got the technique down, but it affected the weapons stats." Draco brings up a holographic screen with the shotguns statics. Its damage, accuracy, etc. Draco compares the stats now to before it was shattered. "It's not as accurate as it was before. And you messed up the barrel so the spread is increased. That's both good and bad, we can hit more enemies but its power is decreased." Draco went on with the imperfections I made. I wondered to the game he was playing and played for him. "Hey! Aren't you listening?"  
"Hmhm. Yea. I'm listening." I lied.  
"Kid, if you want any defense against Devilwing, Dorado, or Triangu, you're going to need to learn how to repair weapon cards."  
I let out a big sigh. "I'm learning aren't I?" My phone started to vibrate. I looked at the caller ID. It was Bowler. I put it on speaker. "Yes, Bowler?"  
I hear a sigh from the other end.  
"Something wrong?"  
"The last couple of cases have been disappointing. It is not your fault. Just the fact we can't find them."  
"So did you find out a location of another artifact?"  
"Yes, it is in Monteriggioni, Italy."  
"Isn't that a small town?" I asked  
"Then our search radius makes it better." Draco commented.  
"My contact found some of Monterggioni's history. Suggesting from it, an OOPart might be hidden in the town."  
"We'll head there now and search for it." I told him.  
"Daniel, I need to get this OOPart. Do not fail me." Bowler hanged up.  
"Is it just me or does he sounds…" I tried to find a word for it.  
"Menacing?" Draco gave me the word.  
"That's it."

I told my mom of my mission and we were off. She didn't seem to like the idea. But she knows we have to. Draco and I synched and we headed to Monteriggioni. We did the same route as last time: fly up to the atmosphere and go from there. As we flew, I looked down at the ocean. The waters are so peaceful from up here.

We flew over the Province of Siena, a large plain with small hills, so many trees, and some farmland.  
"Where is it?" Draco asked me.  
"It's up there." I told him. I saw a walled town. People, both inhabitants and tourists, were coming in and out of the town.  
"That's it?" Draco asked hoping for more.  
"There is more to this place than we realize." I told him. I surveyed the area, there are some security guards. "Let's desynch, I don't want to cause an international incident."  
"Good idea. I don't want to be more of a fugitive than I already am."  
I flew low so no one can see me come in. I flew right into a tree. No one seemed to notice me. The closest road was almost a mile and few people were there. I desynched in the tree. I climbed down, but the tree kept on stabbing me with the wood. "Ow, OWW. OWWW!" I said as I got down.  
"How can a kid born in the mountains get hurt when climbing on a tree?" Draco said as I started walking.  
"Shut up, it's complicated." I said. I headed toward the town, which took a long time. It was off in the distance and took about 20 minutes to get there. In teenage time, that's forever.

I finally made it to the entrance. I bend down to catch my breath.  
"All you did was walked, how are you tired?" Draco commented.  
"Even when you walk all day, it still hurts." I said. I past by the entrance. The guards didn't really notice me. They shot a quick glance at me and moved on to someone else. It's understandable; they have to make sure no one sneaks in to destroy their city. I emerge from the entrance and am exposed to many small buildings. The place is surrounded by walls. So there are many alley ways. In the center of town, is the large plaza. One single road leads to some villa overlooking the town. The stores are mostly restaurants, stores, and some tailors. A road to my right leads to a church and some homes.  
"This place is pretty big." Draco told me.  
I look at the restaurants. "They serve Italian food… My favorite." I walk up to a restaurant. I am stopped by someone grabbing my arm. I look to see who it is. "Selena!?"  
She looks at me like I done something completely stupid.  
"Why are you—" I facepalmed myself at the realization of something. "I forgot to tell you again, didn't I?"  
I get a slap in the face. "God damn it, Danny. You know I wanted to come with you and you forgot to invite me… twice."  
Oh… I forgot about inviting her to Egypt yesterday. I facepalmed myself again. "Ok, I'm sorry, I forgot."  
"You're sorry? You forgot to invite me to Italy! A country that every damned girl in America wanted to go to!"  
"Wait, how did you even know I was coming?" I asked.  
"I went to your house and your mom told me where you went."  
"Ok, I'm sorry, ok?"  
Selena takes a second to decide to accept my apology or not. "Ok, I forgive you."  
"Wow, just like that?"  
"BUT…"  
"There's always a catch" Draco said  
"You have to take me out to a restaurant." Selena offered.  
"Ok, I'll take you to one when we get back to America."  
"NOOOOOO." She said covering my mouth with her finger. "To one of these restaurants."  
"WHAT!? I don't think American currency is valid here." I reasoned.  
Out of nowhere, she pulls out some money in Italian currency.  
"How did you…"  
"They can turn American dollars into Pounds here, little Danny" She said grinning. "As long as you have a passport."  
"You have a passport?"  
"Yeah. Don't you?"  
"Uhhh. No."  
"Oh right, you are only turning 17, my little Danny." She said rubbing my head.  
"Aren't they so cute?" Lynx commented.  
"Now, aren't you going to take me somewhere?" Selena said hinting the restaurant.  
"Wait, wait, what about the OOPart?" Draco asks Selena and Lynx  
"Relax, Draco, we didn't see any Draconians on our way here." Lynx explained.  
"So we have time." Selena finishes.  
I let out a sigh. "Let's get it over with…"  
She grabs my arm and takes me to a restaurant. We sit outdoors and are given our menus. Selena sits right next to me.  
Our waiter comes up. He speaks to us in Italian. Oh god. This is going to be awkward.  
Selena starts talking to him in Spanish.  
The waiter realizes the language and changes his words around to Spanish. Spanish and Italian are very similar languages.  
"Danny, what do you want?" She asks me.  
"I guess the spaghetti and meatballs."  
Selena translates for me to our waiter.  
The waiter laughs and so does she.  
They continue talking about something and the waiter eventually leaves to get our order.  
"What were you two talking about?" I asked  
"Oh nothing." She said as she drank her water. She glanced at me for a second and chuckled. "He was so right."  
"Right about what!?"  
"Nothing, Danny." She said pinching my cheek.

After we were done, we got to work to searching. We started at a church. It was small and Draco didn't pick anything up.  
"So what was the point of that?" Selena asked me  
"I thought the church was hiding the OOPart without realizing." I reasoned. I held Draco in his healing mode up high in the air like a phone looking for a signal.  
"Daniel, for the last time, we will not find the artifact faster by you holding me high in the air." Draco explained.  
I lowered him down. "Sorry." We searched throughout the lower area of Monteriggioni. Draco didn't sense any artifacts.  
Selena looks up at the villa. "Wouldn't it be so awesome to live up there?"  
I look up at it too. "It is kind of nice." Monteriggioni is a nice place. Nice and small. Better than Los Angeles.  
"Oh! We never looked there! Let's go!" Selena said grabbing my arms and runs toward the villa.  
Selena and I wander around the villa. We keep our distance because people do live here.  
"Kid, I am sensing something." Draco said.  
"What is it?" I ask him.  
"It's coming from the well." Draco said.  
I looked to the right of the villa. There is a well there. We go over to it, hoping that no one sees us. We look down in the well.  
"There's nothing in there." Selena said.  
I look around one last time, vault over the well and drop inside.  
"Danny!!" Selena yelled. "What are you doing?"  
"The OOPart is down here somewhere. Come on." I told her.  
Selena drops down too. When she landed, she yelped in pain a little. "Way to warn me about the massive drop!"  
"You're welcome." I jokily said. "Draco, where is it?"  
"It's somewhere… close by. The Sword is reacting to something." Draco explained.  
I felt around the walls to see if something will happen. Selena does the same. As soon as she touches the wall, it collapses. She freaks out and synchs with Lynx to become Lynxis. She pulls out her swords and readies herself. The wall collapses revealing a path.  
"Really, Selena?" I ask her.  
"What?" She asks like her freaking out is normal.  
"Something's wrong." Draco said. "Someone broke this wall hours ago and tried to cover it up." I synched with Draco and turned on the flashlights on my helmet.

We traveled down the tunnel. We stumble onto a few traps that have been released. We see blood on the floor.  
"What happened here?" Lynx asked.  
"Someone didn't watch his step." Draco replied.  
"Whose blood this is?" I ask myself.

We continue to keep going. We enter a large chamber. Draco was right. Someone did make it here before us. He is dipping in blood with some clear blanket over him: Dorado.  
He notices us. He tries to stand up. He hunches over, after a few seconds, he stand straight. "Dan-Draco… Lynxis."  
"Dorado. You're here for the OOPart" I stated.  
"Where is it?" Selena asked.  
"This is it" Dorado said wrapping the clear clothe around himself. I noticed his cuts are healing. What is the clothe doing?  
"A clothe is an OOPart?" Lynx asked.  
"This not a mere clothe. This is the Shroud." Dorado explained. "It has powers beyond what humans, Draconian and Saurian can comprehend." Dorado wraps the clothe around his neck, breathes fire on a wall near him, and it opens up outside the walled town. Dorado flies out.  
"Get back here!" I yell out to him. Selena and I chase after him. I catch up to him and grab his leg.  
"Get off!" He demands.  
"No!" I try to reach for the Shroud.  
"Stop!" Dorado becomes unfocused and drops altitude. I grab the Shroud. My mind goes blank. I hear whispers all over the place. I can't hear them. I can't understand what they are saying. I snap out of it and I hear Draco screaming.  
"Draco!" I yell. The two OOParts are communicating with each other. And Draco is their messager. Dorado shakes me off and I fall to the ground.  
"Danny!" Selena yells. I'm starting to feel something whatever Draco is feeling. I feel my stomach about to burst.  
For some reason, Dorado lands in front of us. "Now why am I running? You're weakened and I can just take the OOPart you have!" Dorado charges at me.  
Selena blocks the attack with her twin blades. "You're not a real Draconian! You're attacking a downed opponent!"  
"Does it look like I give a shit?" Dorado said he uses his feet to pin Selena to the ground.  
"Selena!!" I yell. I try to help. But the pain is getting worse. Oh the irony, something that heals is hurting me.  
"Now, Dan-Draco." Dorado said. "Give me your OOPart." He readies his sword to kill me.  
The pain is getting more painful. I try to fight it. I try to move, but I can't.  
"Danny!" Draco yells. "Don't fight it!"  
"What?"  
"Don't fight it! Relax!"  
"Why!?"  
"Just do it!"  
I let my head down and relaxed. I felt the pain relax itself. Right when Dorado tries to stab me, ice blocks his strike and covers me. I felt my armor change. It changed color to light blue. The shoulder plates changed into spikes pointing up. My armor becomes thicker. A cape looking a lot like the Shroud goes around my neck. The ice disperses and reveals my new form: Mist Shroud  
"How did?" Dorado said in shock. I punched him in the face. The speed of this armor is incredible. The spot where I punched Dorado has a little ice on him.  
"Danny?" Selena asks.  
"I got a new do." I answered.  
"So you got a new make over! I still got this!" Dorado said as he charges at us.  
"Not the brightest tool in the shed." Draco commented.  
I unsheathed my claws, ducked low, and cut his leg. He kneels down and the cut turns to ice. I put a fist to his face but don't make contact. A wind is created of icy cold and pushes Dorado far. While he's down, I help Selena up and fly towards him. "Now, that doesn't beyond to you." I try to get the Shroud but Dorado swings his sword and it hits my chest.  
"I'm not giving it up that easy!" Dorado yells. He breathes out a massive stream of fire at me.  
"Danny!" Selena yells.  
A pillar of fire shoots out. Dorado stops and Selena is in aw. She recognizes this: The Sword is transforming me. I don't feel the Sword simply replacing the armor I have now. It's… combining it. The Mist Shroud armor maintains its shape, but it turns dark red, same as the Blaze Swordsman armor. Some parts of the Blaze armor is add and parts of the Mist armor is left on. By the time the transformation is done, Dorado is in shock.  
"What- what happened?" Dorado asks himself. I unleashed an attack on Dorado. An attack much like the one I unleashed earlier. This one was a combination of ice and fire. With the hot and cold airs hitting each other, it creates a tornado. It launches Dorado in the air. He recovers quickly and is hovering above us.  
"Danny, what armor is that?" Selena quickly asks me while she prepares for Dorado's next move.  
"I think the two armors formed together." I explained. "Draco, how you feeling?"  
"Better… I feel unstoppable!!" Draco boasts.  
"Sorry to rain on your sunny day, but I think I've bitten more than I can chew. So I'm going to say goodbye now. But I'm not leaving without giving you a goodbye present." Dorado said. He inhales deeply and unleashes a volcano scale fire stream. But he doesn't aim at us. He's aiming at the trees. He's causing a forest fire. In no time at all, the trees catch on fire. Dorado stops and flies off. I was about to chase after him but I stopped myself. The forest is being destroyed. It's only a matter of time for it to reach Monteriggioni.  
"We got to do something!" Draco yells.  
I can see Dorado escaping.  
"Danny! Don't you have a plan!?" Selena demands from me. I do. I can use the OOPart to rid the fire. But I have a choice to choose now: Get the OOPart from Dorado and let the forest die, and everything the fire consumes burn, or stop it now and save so many lives… But Dorado will get away. Like I have a choice.  
I fly up, and Selena follows.  
I charged my right arm with cold air. I fire the cold air at the ground. The cold air starts to spread throughout the forest, putting out the fire. I look for Dorado, seeing if I am not too late.  
He's gone.

On the way home, I contacted Bowler for the mission report. I explained everything. Everything but my dinner with Selena. I would hate to see what he would think of that.  
"So the energy of the OOPart still absorbed into you?" He asks.  
"Yes."  
He takes a while. "Well… Daniel… This is disappointing…" There is a silence.  
"W-what do I do?" I finally get it out.  
More silence. "Come home, there isn't much we can do now."  
"Got it."  
"And Daniel. Next time you see Dorado; do not hesitate to kill him for the OOPart." He said.  
"What? I-I-I can't kill someone" I did kill some Saurian months ago, but those were mindless minions. As for Draco's teammates, when they were after us, I let them go once defeated. But Dorado and Triangu… There is something off about them. Triangu isn't like Dorado nor Devilwing. Dorado may have some quest for power, but there has to be something else to do to deal with him. I don't know much about Devilwing. The first time he attacked… Why attack us? Sure, it was for the artifact inside Draco. What about in Egypt? Dorado has some information on the OOParts, but does Devilwing know more than anyone else? He is human… He can synch without the aid of a Draconian… Is he… A protector? Is he just trying to gain back what his people lost? If that is the case… Oh God… What am I doing, exactly? Am I keeping someone from truly protecting the artifacts? Have I been reduced to an errant boy? How do I know Bowler really wants to protect the world from these things?  
Can I trust him?  
"If you can't do simple kill to protect the world, then I am disappointed. I'll contact you when I find another artifact. Bowler out." He hangs up.  
…  
…  
…  
What's your game, Bowler?


	8. Forest of Lost Souls

"You sure you can trust this guy?" Andrew asked me as he takes a bite out of another French fry.  
We eating at the mall again trying to relax. For once, all of us were here: Alex, Nicole, Jen, Andrew, Selena and I. Even Draco, Lynx, and Sags were hiding in their healing modes.  
"No I don't. But what else can I do?" I told him. "He has all the resources and solutions. He knows what we're dealing with."  
"How do you know he won't stab you in the back once he has what he wants?" Alex asked me.  
"That's what I'm completely expecting from him." I answer.  
Nicole lets out another sigh. "Maybe I should come with you and Selena next time. Strength in numbers."  
I wasn't too sure I'd let Nicole or Selena with me again. Selena almost got hurt last time. If I wasn't nearby, she would be dead. But Nicole was right, I need backup. And these two were the only ones able to help.  
Alex doesn't seem to like the idea. He doesn't say anything about it. I think it is simple worries like cheating on me or something.  
"Something wrong, Alex?" I ask him.  
"It's just…" He stops to think what he wants to say. "Selena and Nicole get to help you because they have the power to do so…. And I…" I think I see what he's getting at.  
"How do you think we feel?" Jen asks him "You three have Draconians to give this power and the ones we had tried to kill you."  
I noticed how Andrew seems to be avoiding that subject. He doesn't join the conversion. I can feel his leg jumping up and down nervously and he drinks his soda one often.  
"Still thinking about what happened with Gem?" Draco asks. If I knew something was wrong, he must have felt it too.  
Andrew finally puts down his drink. "I honestly don't care if I'm a… Draconian Knight or whatever forms it is when you two combine" He points to me and Draco.  
"Is it because of the awful stuff Gem must have done while he was controlling you?" Lynx asks him.  
"All I remember are small memories of what Gem did while he was controlling me. Getting back in touch with the other Draconians and…" He drinks his soda again.  
"You don't have to keep going" Selena said  
"All of those people…." Andrew mumbled.  
"Wait… what?" I asked.  
"Nothing…." Andrew said "Can we just get on with the present already?"  
Present?  
"ANDREW!" Everyone yells at him.  
"Don't give it away!" Lynx and Selena tell him.  
"What present?" I asked when I already knew the answer.  
"I didn't know it would be a surprise." Andrew defended himself.  
I can't believe I forgot. Today was my birthday. "You guys didn't have to get me anything."  
Jen slaps Andrew upside the head. "We wanted too. Mainly Selena wanted too." A wrapped up paper from Selena's burger hits her.  
I look at Selena and she pouts. She gets something from her slingpack. "I wanted too."  
"We all chipped in on it." Alex said.  
"Well, crap, must be crazy expensive." I only felt some guilt. They didn't have to waste their money on me.  
"Mehhhhh, not really." Alex told me. "Only 100 bucks" He said under his breath. I didn't hear him the first time.  
Selena slides the gift-wrapped box to me. I unwrapped it and I see it is music headphones. Black with a red lined pattern. "Whoa." I said from shock. "What gave you the idea to get me this?"  
"Remember months ago when you complained how your regular ear phones break every month?" Andrew asked.  
After we defeated Uni, we tried to go back to our regular schedule. At lunch, I would listen to my music on my phone. But my ear phones kept breaking. I'm not sure if it was me or my pocket, but sometimes, the volume would drop unless I squeeze the cord. Eventually I threw them out when they stopped working completely.  
"Yeah, I think I remember." I told him.  
"That time when you raged when they stopped working was priceless." Draco commented.  
"Shut up, Draco." I told him.  
"Well, try them!" Selena said.  
"Hold on, I'm trying to get the box open" I told her. I used my house keys to rip the packaging tape. The headphones were wrapped with those plastic key things. Oh God, how I hate these things as a child. After several minutes of unwrapping them, I got it. I plugged them into my phone, and tried them on. The headphones were absolutely comfortable. I turned on the music to test it and the sound was perfect and clear. "It works" I told everyone.  
"Yes," Alex said. "My 50 dollar donation paid off." He said. He thought my music was on and I couldn't hear him  
"Alex, the volume is low enough for me to hear you." I told him.  
"Well then, if you break these, remember who paid the most." He said.  
I turned off the music and let the headphones rest around my neck. "Thanks guys."  
"So how does it feel to be 18 finally?" Jen said.  
"Same as turning 17" I told her.  
"So… now you are of legal age…." Jen tried to tell me subtly  
"No, I'm not going to any clubs, drink, or do drugs with you."  
"Not that! I mean you and Selen—"  
"--We're done here." I quickly said as I knew what she was getting at. I nervously ate my burger. Everyone gave me a grin even Selena. "What!?" They burst laughing.  
"Ohhh, priceless" Draco said.  
"What's priceless!?" I asked. Everyone laughed again.  
I heard my ringtone from my headphones. When I plugged them in, they act as the microphone. I looked at the caller ID and kind of froze. Andrew looked at it and his grin turned into a serious frown. Everyone did the same because they knew who it was: Bowler. I put on my headphones and answered it.  
"Yes?" I answered.  
"Daniel, I have tracked another artifact" Bowler said. He sounded clear thanks to the headphones.  
"Where is it this time?" I asked.  
"My source tells me it is somewhere in the forest at the base of Mt. Fuji at Honshu Island in Japan." He told me.  
"Why do you think it in there?" I asked.  
"It seems like the perfect place. No one likes to go in there unless it is to die." He said. Wait… what?  
"To… Die? Excuse me?"  
Bowler sighs a little, as though it was a subject he wishes to not mention. "It is called Suicide Forest. It is an eerie place. It is the most 'perfect place to die'. People who went, don't usually come out. People get lost in there because of the magnetic disturbances from the mountain itself. Perfect for hiding an artifact from radar. And the rep the forest gets is perfect for keeping treasure hunters away."  
"And you want me to go in there and probably get lost and die?" I asked him.  
"I do not like the idea. But I have no other alterative. You are more likely to survive than a normal person. You can fly out whenever you want." Bowler explained. He does make a point.  
"But a place with a lot of deaths must be haunted, right?" I asked.  
"There are some cases. Paranormal teams went in for search for the spirits that roam there. They have some video and audio footage. This is another defense the artifact could have: The spirits themselves. But if you go now, while there is still daylight in Japan, you might just have time to avoid them."  
"Why not wait until tomorrow while I'll have a whole day to investigate?"  
"NO!" I hear Bowler slam his fist on a table. The headphones made it so loud. Too loud. And my volume isn't even high. "Dorado got Shroud because you decided to wait a while before finding it."  
"Wait, how—"  
"And I suggest you leave your little birthday party before Triangu finds it. He has a headstart on you."  
I jump out of my chair. Bowler is spying on me? I look around, everyone seems normal, just passing by. "You hated my failure so much; you decide to spy on me?"  
"It's a precaution. To make sure you are safe."  
"I'm starting to sense a little distrust here. Why not come join me, you seem to have the knowledge to find it."  
"Not possible."  
"What about your source? Can he or she help?"  
"I don't want to risk my source's cover"  
"To who!? Who besides the Draconian, who are just two people, could you be worried about!?"  
"My source have his own problems. Some of my sources are government officials, if they go out of their way to help you, their own lives could be in danger. Do you want that on your conscious, Mr. Knight?" Bowler explains to me.  
"… Fine." I admitted.  
"Good. Now get going. And tell Andrew I am sorry for everything Gem has done to him" He said.  
"Wait, you know about—" He hangs up before I could finish my question.  
Everyone was looking at me with worried eyes.  
"What happened?" Selena asked.  
"Bowler wants me to go to Mt. Fuji." I answered.  
"I'm coming." Selena volunteers.  
"Me too." Nicole said.  
"No, I got this." I told them.  
Selena grabs a hold of my arm. "Damn it, Daniel, we'll be fine. Just let us."  
"Where I'm going is too creepy and dangerous." I told them.  
"And where's that?" Alex asked.  
"Suicide Forest, isn't it?" Nicole answers the question for me. "I'm interested in the paranormal. I know about the forest."  
I sighed out of annoyance. "Ok, you can come. Just be careful." I told them. Nicole and Selena got up from their chairs.  
Alex didn't seem to argue that his girlfriend is going to a place called Suicide Forest. But that didn't mean he wasn't nervous about it.  
"She'll be ok, Alex." I told him.  
"I know you'll protect her, Danny." He told me.  
I nodded.  
We found a secluded place to synch and flew off toward Japan.

"You ok, Danny?" Draco asked me as we flew over the ocean.  
"No, you heard Bowler. He doesn't fully trust us." I said.  
"He's planning something." Sags said.  
"You should know, you tried to kill us. No offense" Draco said.  
"Just because you say 'No offense' doesn't mean it wasn't offensive." Saggs teased.  
Draco just mumbles to himself.

We finally made it to Mt. Fuji. The Volcano top is covered in snow because of the high altitude. The sun was about to set. Where this OOPart is, we have to find it fast.  
"Draco, do you sense anything?" I said as we hovered over the forest.  
Draco holds on to his head in pain. "No, I'm getting a headache. I think it's the magnetic interference from the volcano like Bowler said."  
"Is the OOPart reacting to anything?" I asked.  
"Nothing. But it's giving off some…" Draco coughs lightly. "Some magnetic field too."  
"That doesn't give me confidence." I told him.  
"Let's land somewhere and begin looking." Selena said.  
This will be hard. Without Draco's sense, it'll be hard to look for it.  
We land in the forest. It was tough getting through the canopy. It covers the forest top almost entirely. As we got on the ground, I can understand why people feel creeped out or scared when in here. The trees are everywhere, no sign of any animal activity. We stay silent to hear the forest sounds to make sure: Total silence.  
"Does anyone feel… Uneasy?" Selena asked.  
"I felt it when we were just over the place." Nicole told Selena.  
I looked around for any clue on the artifact. I glanced to the radar on my HUD. I noticed there was a fourth heat signature to my left. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a black figure. As soon as I catch it, it disappears. I rub my eyes. The forest's reputation must be getting to my head. "Anyone see someone?"  
"My Radar says there are only the three of us." Selena said.  
"But mine said—" I look at it again. That fourth heat signature is gone. We've been here for only several seconds and this place is already creeping me out.  
"Daniel, you're not crazy, I noticed something there too." Draco told me. "I say we go toward wherever you saw the figure. Maybe it's a sign."  
I didn't like that logic: heading toward some demon or whatever it was. But what direction can we go?  
We went in the direction where I saw the figure. I looked around for any other strange thing. I kept thinking of explanations of what it could've been. Maybe it was magnetic interference getting into the GPS. I tap on my touchscreen of my gauntlet and it goes static for a second then back to normal. I look behind me to make sure Nicole and Selena are still behind me, they are. They are looking around like I am.  
"Daniel." Draco gets my attention. "Just what happens to a human when they die?"  
That was the most random question he's ever asked me. "Why ask me that now? Of all times."  
"Thought it was appropriate." Draco said.  
"To tell you the truth, even we humans don't really know." I told him. "Some think our spirits go to heaven or hell. If not, they stay stuck here when they have unfinished business. At least that is a theory."  
"What happens to Draconians when they die?" Selena asked, joining the conversation.  
"When a Draconian or Saurian reach the end of their life, we fade away. Our light disappears while our metal parts are left behind…" Draco said. "We don't have these spirits. No occurrence of seeing a past loved one on our planet…" Draco pauses for a second.  
"Why so interested in the paranormal?" I ask him.  
"I just find the human concept of the afterlife interesting… and lucky that you still have a small chance to see your loved one." Draco said very solemnly. "I think this forest is getting to me."  
"It's getting to all of us." Nicole said staring off into the distance. "Like how I keep hearing voices."  
"What are they saying?" Selena asks.  
"I don't know. They stopped. You guys didn't hear it?" She asked.  
"No, I didn't." I said. "But don't think you're crazy, I did see a figure when we landed. So I can't judge." I looked back ahead of me. I then fell in a landslide.  
"Danny!" I heard Selena yell.  
I try to figure out what's happening. I keep rolling down this landslide. I hit the ground a second later. Selena and Nicole fly down next to me. Selena helps me up form the ground.  
"You ok?" She asks me.  
"I'm fine." I said as I wiped the dirt off my armor. "I just lost my footing." I feel Nicole nudging my shoulder.  
"Guys, look." She tells us. We look where she's looking and we see a campsite.  
I walk closer to investigate. It was abandoned. The tent top collapsed into itself. It was filled with water. Rain must have caused it. I open up the tent and I find some food and water. The food had rot and there was fungus in the water bottles.  
"This camp was abandoned long ago. Everything is spoiled." I told them.  
Selena walks to the campfire. There was no sign that a fire was recently put out. Just a pile of burnt wood.  
Nicole looks in the other tents: Same thing as I found. "What happened to everyone?"  
I walked toward her to look in the other tents if there was anything different. I was stopped by a hold in the ground. I flinched when it happened. I lifted my boot off and studied it. I noticed there was paper in there. "Guys, I found something." I reached for the paper. It was ripped. All there was a corner of a picture of a girl. She was Japanese and had black hair. That's all I can tell from it.  
"There's more." Selena reaches in too and pulls out a handful of ripped pictures.  
"Why is there so many?" Nicole asked  
Selena placed them on the ground. They were all of pictures of different people. Some pieces belonged to each other, while some were different people entirely. There are probably more in the hole. Selena starts to tear up. "Did… Did they all just rip up their own pictures then kill themselves?" I placed a hand on her shoulder.  
"They did it for their own reasons. We can't judge something we barely know." I told her.  
Selena relaxes. "This place is scary. Can't we just find the OOPart and get out?"  
All of a sudden I hear Nicole scream. She took out her sniper from her gauntlet and started shooting at nothing.  
"Nicole, what's wrong!?" I asked.  
"I swore to god, I saw someone just staring at me right next to me!"  
"And you thought shooting him was a good idea?" I asked.  
"He looked like he was trying to kill me!!" Nicole yelled.  
I looked where she shot: No one there. "Let's keep moving. And save ammo." I told them. I looked ahead of me. I saw someone again. It wasn't a black figure like last time. He looked like he was there. But half of him was transparent. He was, I think, a yard away. But the scary thing was, he wasn't some random lost soul. He was… he was someone I knew… "Dad?"  
Selena and Nicole turn to me. They ask what I said. Even Draco was confused. They didn't see him.  
He turned and walked away.  
"Dad, wait!!" I yelled and chased after him.  
"Danny, wait!!" I hear Selena yell.  
I ran and jumped across every fallen trunks.  
"Danny! What are you chasing!?" Draco asked for an answer  
"You don't see him!? It's dad!" I yelled  
"Danny! Devon is dead! The forest is playing with your mind!"  
I ignored him, I kept chasing after it. I entered a huge clearing. I looked for him, I lost him. But I felt something hit me. I fall to the ground. I rotate myself and I see Devilwing. "What are you doing here!?" I demanded. He pulled out his sword. I did the same. "I have no time for you!!" I yelled as I attacked him. He blocked my sword and grabbed my face with his hand. He smashes me to ground facedown. I get my sword and try to stab him. But I see is a tree with my sword stuck in it. Where is he?  
"Danny!! What the hell are you doing!??!" Draco yells.  
"What's wrong with you!? Devilwing attacked us!!"  
"What are you talking about!? No one attacked us! You were battling nothing!!" Draco tried to reason with me. Selena and Nicole finally caught up with me.  
"What was that about saving ammo?" Nicole said.  
"I-I… I was attacked by… By Devilwing."  
"There isn't anything on our radar." Nicole reasoned.  
I turned around and stared at the ground. "This forest is messing with me." I knew this place would be haunted, but now it's just God damned playing with my head. "I'm sorry…" I said to them. I turned round "I'm sorr—" I froze because Selena was gone "Where's Selena?"  
Nicole turned around and she noticed the same thing. She began to panic. "She was right here!"  
"Selena!!" I yelled hoping for an answer. I remembered that our GPS has her. She was just a few feet to the left. I ran toward her. I saw her kneeling on ground crying. "What happened?" I tried to help her up.  
Her eyes were widened and tears were running down her face. "I-I…. I thought I saw my mom…"  
Ok, this is getting ridicules. First Nicole's experience a while back, my experience with my father and Devilwing and now Selena with her mom. "What is going on here?"  
"The forest is preying on you." I heard someone say. I look up and I see who it is: Triangu. He's high in a tree and sitting on a branch. He looks aloof. I prepare my sword expecting an attack. "Relax, Dan-Draco, I'm not here to fight. Dorado on the other hand…." He trails off.  
"You here looking for the OOPart too?" Lynx asks him.  
"No, I'm here because I love being in places where people go to kill themselves." He said sarcastically. "Of course that's what I'm here for."  
"Don't have to be all mean about it…" Lynx says.  
"So why aren't you trying to take my OOPart?" I ask him.  
"Because yours is inside Draco, am I right? It would require surgery to take out. And unlike Dorado, I don't like doing things the completely messy way." He explains.  
"And you're up there, because?" I ask him.  
"Waiting."  
Nicole and I look each other seeing if any of us is understood him. Selena gets up and wipes the remaining tears off her eyes. "For?"  
"You three are impatient. The spirits will guide the way. But it can only be done at night." Triangu said.  
"You're saying that the ghosts here will lead the way?" I ask trying to make sense of his logic.  
"This forest… Perfect place to hide an all powerful object, right?" Triangu asks a question that we all know the answer to. "Those who come, come to die. To escape the horror of their lives… Being welcomed by death's arms. Tell me, why would humans kill themselves for no reason?" This question, he expects an answer.  
"People do it for their own reasons" I answer. "But it is a permanent solution to a temporary problem." My father taught me this concept of life and death. 'Killing yourself is permanent while the problem itself is temporary.'  
"I see…" Triangu says.  
"So what, are you going to help us?" Nicole asks.  
"Our goal is the same. I will help you." Triangu said.  
This seems way too easy. Why is he helping us?  
"And what about the artifact? What will happen, who will have it?" I ask him.  
"You think about what will happen when really, you just have to wait and react. If you spend your whole life thinking what will or what if, you'll just miss the moment and get a whole different future than you were expecting." Triangu explained. "Trust the Draconian that has been trapped in ice for millions of years." I never knew he was so spiritual. This place completely scares the crap out of us. But he's all calm about it like he's one with it.  
"I think I agree with you." Draco admitted. I didn't question why. I honestly didn't think about what will happen. "So what's the plan?"  
"We wait. Till nightfall."  
"Why at night? We came here because we didn't want it to be nighttime." Selena said.  
"Like I said, the spirits will show us the way. But it has to be night for them to talk to us." Triangu explained again. "But you will have to face your fears of the unseen in order to find the OOPart."  
We sit put and sat under the tree Triangu sat. The sun was setting, so only a little longer until night. I didn't love being in this place in the dark. Being here in the day is scary enough. I wanted to ask Triangu something about the forest and why he knew so much about it. But I didn't even know what to ask.  
"Something on your mind, kid?" Triangu asks.  
I decide to finally ask. "How do you know so much of this place?"  
"You think that this place wasn't like this millions of years ago on Pangaea?" He asked me. "I have been here once. Nothing at all changed. The only difference is when you fly above the canopy, you see the city."  
I just thought of something. Since this is my chance to ask him what it was like to live in Pangaea, I should know what no else knew. "Can you tell me what was it like millions of years ago?"   
"It was… peaceful. The humans, ancient Draconians and Saurians got along perfectly." Triangu said.  
"But what changed?" Draco asked. "The Draconian and Saurian war began somehow, how did it? What made us start to fight?"  
Triangu paused for a second and tried to remember the best he could. "You encouraged us to fight" He points to me.  
I was confused. So the humans encouraged the Draconians to fight the Saurian? "What do you mean humans caused the war?"  
Triangu tried to recollect everything. "There was a simple ruler. He was Saurian. He was in charge of everything. He overlooked the problems people had and looked for solutions. Something all leaders should do, right?"  
"Then what happened to break everything into all-out war?" Selena asked.  
"It seemed perfect. But there was… what do humans call it? Racism." Triangu said. I began to see where he was going with this.  
"Since the ruler of Pangaea was Saurian, he ignored most problems that involved Draconian or human. He mainly dealt with Saurian problems. Some humans thought this was not fair. For both them and Draconian."  
"And what about you? What was your take on all of it?" Nicole asked him for his input.  
"I had no problem. My village never had any issues. And when it did, it never affected me. I just kept to myself. But when the war arose, then it became my problem. But I'm getting to that." Triangu paused for a second. "The Draconians started to rebel. So did the humans. Dorado got the idea that we need to join the army to help restore true order. I told him it wasn't our fight. But… he forced us anyway." There was obviously more to the story than that, but I can tell Triangu wanted to get past that part fast. "But the problem was… we were so focused on our quest for freedom, we weren't prepared for the Separation." Triangu stopped after breathing so hard. Bad memories must have opened when telling the story. "The Draconian and Saurian fled off world and…"  
"You can stop. We now got an idea on what happened." I explained.  
"Dear Dracon…" Draco said to himself.  
"What is it?" I asked him. "History of how the war started was lost. But hearing how it happened just…"  
"Blew your mind?" Nicole asked.  
"It did…" Sags said.  
"What did the schools of your planet teach about your history?" Selena asked.  
"They only went as far as when we arrived on our planet. Even that far back was hard to figure out." Lynx explained.  
"When we asked why we fought the Saurian, all they said was 'because they are monsters.'" Sags said.  
"And all these years… I believed it." Draco said.  
"The Draconian lost the reason why we were fighting." Triangu said. "It is not for freedom, but just for the sake of fighting."  
"… Just like humans…" I said.  
"I guess it is every beings destiny to fight." Triangu said in response to me.  
I wanted to say it wasn't. But I don't exactly have any proof of that. It's my word against the word of a million year old Draconian. I waited a while longer before asking him another question about the forest. "What exactly does this forest do?"  
"Can you be clearer?" Trinagu asked.  
"Like I thought I saw my dad. My dad has been dead for over a year now. Why am I seeing him here?"   
"That's what this forest does. It takes more than just the lost souls that killed themselves here. It shows you your biggest fear: the people you lost. The people you think are gone." Triangu explained.  
I thought about how Nicole saw some random stranger. But I saw Devilwing… What about that? "But Nicole saw some Stranger and after I saw my dad, I saw Devilwing. We fought even though Draco told me he wasn't there."  
"The forest does two things for you. It shows you the people closest to you that you lost. Some would think this is a way to scare you. But to me, it reminds you that the people you lost are not gone." I noticed Selena was peeking her head up when Triangu finished his first half of his statement. "When you saw your father, or when Lynxis here saw her mother, the forest is telling you they are not gone. Just on another plane of existence."  
"But what about Nicole's? It was someone she never met." I said. I looked at Nicole. She wasn't joining the conversation. She just sat and played with the dirt. Maybe it was someone she knew but didn't mention. "It wasn't a stranger, wasn't it?"  
"It was…" She sighed and prepared herself for a long explanation. "It was a burglar that broke into our house… He had my parents tied up while he tried to steal everything. He was about to kill them to make sure no one knew what he looked like. So I took my dad's metal bat and beat him to death before he could."  
I guess that explains why she shot the 'ghost' of him when she thought she saw him. She huddles up because she must be remembering the night. Selena gets up and comforts her.  
"It's ok, darling." Selena told her.  
"He invaded your home and threatened you. You had every right to do that" Draco said.  
"I don't regret it. Not a bit of it. But that face… I feel like shooting it when I see it." Nicole said.  
We knew that Selena lost her mother. Even all of us knew about my father. "But… I saw Devilwing. And I know for a fact that he's alive. So why did I see him? Was he another fear?"  
"Danny, are you afraid of him?" Selena asked.  
I keep remembering that icy glare. How he can pumble me to submission without any remorse. He was quick to kill me when he had the chance. He can do things that are beyond my imagination. He makes Duo and Terraflight look like puppies.  
"I am afraid."  
It's very much like Nicole with that burglar. Only she had the courage to kill him. I don't. Devilwing is a nightmare I know nothing about. Only he wants my OOPart. But I have two powers of artifacts in me. He couldn't handle my first form. I hope he can't handle my new form as well.  
All of this and we don't know Triangu's fear.  
"Triangu." I call him. "What is your fear?"  
Triangu pauses. "My fear. Is that I lost my friend."  
"Was it Dorado?"  
"Yes."

After an hour, the sun finally set. Triangu got up from his perch and dropped down.  
"So how do we 'follow the spirits'?" I ask him.  
"Just stay still and listen." He tells me.  
We sit still for one second. A few seconds of pass. All of a sudden, I hear whispers. I look around for them. They seem to coming from all directions.  
"This is it." Triangu said. He looks to his left. "This way." We follow him. The whispers get stronger and stronger. I feel like someone is coming up behind me. But Nicole and Selena are the only people behind me. They hear them too. They are as confused as I am. I hear the whispers calling my name now.  
"Why are they calling for me?" I ask.  
"I don't know why you, but it means we're getting closer." Triangu said.  
The whispers change their voice every second, but now I hear familiar words. I hear familiar voices. I hear my dad. "Dad?"  
"Don't fall for it." Triangu tells me. "We have to keep going."  
We keep going. Selena grabs my arm and hugs it. "It's ok, Danny." She comforts me. I wish it worked. But I still hear it.  
I hear unfamiliar voices now. Just random people. I keep hearing the words, 'save me' and 'help'.  
"They need help." I said.  
"These are lost souls." Triangu said. "We can't help them on this plane." Trinagu stops. We're in the middle of a clearing. I can actually see the moon. "Here. This is where the voices are strongest." Triangu's tri-blade pops out and he stabs the ground. All around us, a circle staircase forms. It doesn't look concrete. It's made of dirt. Like the forest floor itself. We follow the staircase down. It goes down in the middle of a chamber. "Stand back from the stairs." Triangu tells us.  
"Where is it?" I ask.  
"Just a big empty room" Lynx said.  
Triangu stabs the pillar where the staircase is. The stairs close back into the top of the chamber where it was before we came. Once it closed. The ceiling opened up, revealing the sky; the moon. The moonlight shines in the center of the floor. The middle of the floor opens up. Something comes up. A stand holding something: A shield. It had a pattern all over it. It was some lines going around it. It was golden like the Sword. Maybe they are related? "The Shield that defends the lost souls against the evil of the outside. That is why it is here." Triangu explains. "The spirits lost their defender. Now they defend their home with her shield. Or at least, that is what is the legend says." I think I know why Triangu wants it. I think he wants to be the new defender of the lost souls… I got to say. He deserves more than I do. Triangu walks toward it and touches it. Selena and Nicole ready themselves for a fight. I signaled them telling them he won't harm us. At least I hope. "Don't worry, lost ones. You won't be lost anymore." I hope I won't regret letting him have the Shield. But I noticed something strange. I noticed some wavy lines behind Triangu.  
All of a sudden, my gauntlet starts glowing. Draco starts screaming in pain. "Danny!! The other OOPart… It's here… Dorado's here!"  
I see a sword appear out of the wavy lines. Triangu got Draco's warning and blocked it before it stroked. Whoever attacked him reveals to be Dorado. He was using the Shroud to make himself invisible.  
"Thank you for getting the OOPart for me, Triangu!" Dorado yells out. "I appreciate it."  
"This one isn't for you." Triangu said back.  
"Does it look like I care what you think? Give it!" Triangu reveals his tri-blade and try to stab Dorado. Dorado grabs a hold of it. Triangu counters by kicking his stomach to stun him. He flies out of Dorado range to get near us.  
We ready our weapons for the fight. Draco screams in pain. "Draco, what's wrong!?" I ask him.  
"There are three OOParts here! The Sword is going insane!" Draco yells.  
Something hits Dorado. Something came out of nowhere and hit his face. Something charges at him. Dorado sees it and blocks it with his sword. This time, I'm not insane. I knew he would be here: Devilwing. I freeze in fear. That cold icy glare stares at me.  
"Well, well. The whole gang's here!" Dorado boasts.  
I never thought I would hear this next voice. "Hand over the OOParts." It came from Devilwing. "You cannot control them"  
"So you can talk, who you think you are!?" Dorado said.  
Devilwing remains silent.  
"The Shroud is mine! I don't see you with an artifact!" Dorado yells! The Shroud then starts to glow. So does my gauntlet and the Shield.  
Draco groans in pain.  
"Draco!" I yell out.  
"All three OOParts are here…" Devilwing said.  
The Shield's energy goes into my gauntlet, where Draco is. Draco groans in pain form the transfer. I can feel it too. I kneel on the ground from the pain.  
Selena kneels down with me to help me up.  
"The transfer is painful. But will end." Triangu says.  
"It's like with the Shroud." Selena said.  
"Exactly, you have to let it run its course." Triangu says.  
Over us, I see something forming. A metallic portal begins to form. Devilwing looks up and sees it. "When the three are joined, the path to the city is found."  
A green energy surrounds me. Just like with the Shroud, the Shield's energy transfers to me. My armor starts to change again. It turns dark green and bulky. My mask filter covers my face and the same line pattern on the Shield is on my helmet. A copy of the Shield is on my left gauntlet. The energy disappears and my new form is shown.  
"Not again. Why does that kid keep getting the cool stuff!?" Dorado exclaims.  
"The lost soul's defender…" Triangu says.  
"The Soul Shield" I finished for him.  
Dorado charges at me. I raise my shield to block him. My gauntlet glows again.  
"Draco, you ok?" I ask him.  
"I'm fine. But the Sword is reacting to the Shroud." He said.  
The metal portal above us expands. We see an image on the other side. A city. It was the same one Bowler showed Draco and I at the college.  
"Aterto…" I hear Devilwing say. I start to feel light. Eventually, I feel myself floating. I realized that the portal is sucking us in. Dorado stabs his sword into the ground to keep himself grounded.  
"Everyone! Grab something!" I warn everyone. Triangu sticks his blade in a stone wall. Selena uses her katanas to ground herself as well. Nicole goes beside her and does the same. I noticed how I am barely being lifted off the ground. The Soul Shield form must be too heavy. But for some reason, Devilwing is letting himself being sucked in. "What are you doing!? Grab something to stop being sucked in!" I try to tell him. I don't know why I am warning him.  
"Shut up, Dan-Draco." He said out loud. "My plan doesn't have you in it. So stop." Devilwing lets himself get sucked inside.  
The portal closes and I hit the floor. It wasn't a giant slam, but a shock because it was unexpected. I look back at Selena and Nicole to check to see if they are alright. But I look around and see Dorado and Triangu both gone. I help up the two girls. Selena admires my new form.  
"How many of these do you have?" She asks me.  
"Don't worry, this is the last one." I joked.  
"Well, Triangu got away with the Shield." Nicole said.  
"Honestly, it's not the fact Triangu has it now, it's what Bowler will do that worries me." I said.  
"Danny, isn't that the last OOPart?" Selena asks. "Each one now belongs to some body." She's right. I have the Sword of Blazikai, Dorado has the Shroud of Mists, and Triangu has the Shield of Souls. Devilwing is the only one without one. But why would he let himself get sucked in? Wasn't his whole mission to get the OOParts? No… wait that is what Bowler told me. For all we all know, that isn't Devilwing's plan at all. He said that portal lead to his home. Maybe all he wanted was to go back and he needed the OOParts to do it.  
"My plan doesn't have you in it."   
Or maybe we're all wrong.  
"I know." I responded to Selena's point. "There will be a three-way war. To see who gets them all." If I don't get them, I hope at least, Triangu does. Maybe we can work together to get Dorado's OOPart.  
"Didn't Triangu said not to worry about the future?" Nicole pointed out. Nicole has a point too.  
"You're right. Let's just inform Bowler and end it already." I said as I got the connection set up in my helmet. It rang for a moment and then Bowler answered. I told him what had happened. All I hear is a large sigh.  
"So now everyone has a artifact?" He asks.  
"Yes. I know what this means too. A three-way war." I told him.  
"I should've expected this from you."  
"What do you mean?"  
"You trust people too much. Because of that, you let Triangu get away with the Shield." Bowler explained.  
"What? You expect me to stab him in the back?" I asked him.  
"Yes. I expect you to do just that."  
"I don't betray a person's trust, Bowler, which apparently, you seem to know a lot about. How do I know you won't stab me in the back?" I asked him. I can't believe I have all this courage to stand up to him.  
"Because I need you, Daniel. I need the power you have to get the artifacts to make sure the world is safe." Bowler explained.  
"That still implies that you would stab me in the back. When everything is said and done, will you?" I told him.  
There was a long silence. I don't expect Bowler to say yes. He wouldn't blow his cover like that if he was going to betray me.  
"Look, come by tomorrow and we'll discuss a game plan." Bowler said as he hanged up.  
I looked at Nicole and Selena, I told them to get ready for whatever might happen tomorrow.  
We flew out of the chamber and outside. I hovered around the forest floor and listened to the whispers of the forest. I can still not understand anything. But I realized that I am not as afraid of them anymore. Over the horizon, I saw the sun rise. The whispers lowered into a sudden stop. The sun has come out to expose the shadows from the lost souls… Allowing them to find their way back home…


	9. Three-Way OOPart Struggle

"Sword, Shroud, and Shield. The three artifacts used to activate the doomsday weapon are now discovered." Bowler said debriefing me. "The Sword is in our possession, luckily. However, the Shroud belongs to one of the Ancient Draconian, Dorado. A crazed power hungry manic that will stop at nothing to gain the power of the doomsday weapon." Bowler is explaining the situation to me Draco and I. "The Shield is also in the hands of another Ancient Draconian, Triangu. Compared to Dorado, he is calmer, and doesn't destroy everything for no reason. And finally, Devilwing. He is going solo, operating for his own reasons. That is all I have on him." Bowler gave a small pause. "Do you know what this means, Daniel?  
"That now, everything is at a complete stale-mate" I answered. I am still feeling Bowler's anger on me after failing to get the other two OOParts.  
"Exactly, because you failed to receive them, the city – no – the world might suffer." Bowler said, raining more guilt on me. I know I failed twice, stop making it worse. "But at least we have a secret weapon."  
"We do?" Draco asked.  
"You two." Bowler said. "Even if we only have one artifact, you two have the powers of the others. Your new forms appear to meld with each other, stacking both abilities from each form on top of each other."  
"What are you getting at?" I asked him.  
Bowler scratched his chin for a minute. I heard him mumbling to himself. I couldn't hear what he was saying. "Have you combined all three powers?" He asked me finally.  
Good question. So far, we only combined two at a time. Never all three. "Not yet. The powers of two seem to be more than enough."  
"Exactly, imagine all three OOPart powers combined. They could make a form completely powerfully. Enough to rival God." Bowler explained. The woman with the hood with him looks uneasy. That girl is always with him. She never says anything. Just in the corner by herself. Who is she? What relationship does she have with Bowler?  
As for the whole 'rival God' thing, I think he's going a bit far. "I know the OOParts are powerful, but I think that's way too much."  
Bowler calms himself before speaking. "R-right. I must be overthinking it."  
"So what do I do now?" I asked him, not sure if I'll like the answer.   
Bowler looks at his computer for a few seconds. "I'm not picking up anything from them. Just be prepared, Dan-Draco. A massive storm is coming."  
I got up from my seat. "Got it." I told him. I got Draco in his healing form and attached him to my belt.  
"And Daniel" Bowler said before I left. "Even when the storm is over, the hurricane will begin."  
What does he mean by that? Something much worse will happen? I hope not. I nod back at him and get on the evaluator.

I walked home this time. Flying was too dangerous right now. I need to stay out of sight if I want to get any surprise on Dorado. He's my first target right now. Triangu, I know he doesn't have evil intentions. But Dorado is ticking time bomb and has a temper of spoiled rich girl. I believe I am now confidante to take him on. But Triangu could want the Sword or Shroud too. What if he comes after me? What if they both team up to take me down? I am the Ace in a deck of cards according to Bowler. Dan-Draco can use all three forms from the OOParts. But that makes me a target as well. And what about Devilwing? He's an unknown. He let himself get sucked into that portal. A portal caused by the OOParts. Will that happen again when all of us fight? Why did Devilwing even go to that… city? Aterto, was it?  
"Hey, kid." Draco calls my attention. "You seem distracted." He's right; I could get ambushed because I was thinking too much.  
"Sorry, just thinking of a game plan." I told him.  
"Without any more data, we can't think of anything. We should wait for now. They can't do anything with one artifact, right?" Draco reasoned with me.  
"Right…" I told him, unsure of that.  
"Good, now let's go home and—" Draco stops midsentence. Without warning, he transformed out of his healing mode, unsheathed his claws and attacked something behind me. I was shocked; I was wondering why he did that. I see Dorado on the ground coming out of an invisibly cloak. He was trying to kill me. Even worse: He knew who I was.  
"Dorado!!" I yelled. Draco stood infront of me, acting a bodyguard.  
"Damn it. I knew I could sense you, but it looks like it goes both ways." Dorado said.  
"Sense me?" I realized what he meant. He was about to sense the Sword inside Draco. He must have figured out how to use his Shroud as a radar.  
"Bingo, kid." Dorado said as he got up. "I still need the other two OOParts." Other two? Looks like he hasn't found Triangu yet. I'm the first on his list then.  
Draco and I synched quickly. "You're not getting the Sword from me."  
"Sweet. Looks like I can drop the stealth act and finally get the Sword the fun way!" Dorado said as he took his blade and smashed it to the ground, creating ice spiking out of the ground. I fly up to dodge. Dorado flies at him. Going fast. He grabs me and throws me to the ground. He stomps him foot on me. He readies his blade to kill me. I reach for my gauntlet and my shotgun materializes. I shoot at him and hit his chest. He flies back to recover. I charge at him with my shotgun. I shoot at him a couple of times. He uses his blade to knock it out of my hands. The gun dematerializes. But the card is still in my gauntlet, which means I can use it again. He swings his blade again at me. Right before he could hit me, a pillar of earth surrounds me and shields me. This is the transformation sequence for the Soul Shield form. Its heavy armor should protect me from Dorado's attacks. Dorado growls. He takes his Shroud, covers himself with it and opens it, launching ice spikes at him. I block them with the Shield. It creates a larger barrier to protect me. Some shards get through but don't really hit me. As the barrier wears off, Dorado disappears again.  
"Danny! Get in the air, quick!" Draco warns me. He's right, I can get more breathing room up there. Before I could fly, Dorado tries to strike me from behind. I parry his blade with my shield, and tackle and bash him with it. While he's staggered, I jump on his head and launch myself in the air.  
"Come on, Dorado, is that all you can do? Are you just a one trick pony?" I tease him. I decided to use his temper against him. This will either get him to lose focus or make him stronger.  
"You son-of-a-bitch!" Dorado flies up to chase me. I materialize my shotgun again. Once he's close, I shoot him. He staggers again and I bash him with my shield. But that doesn't appear to work. He grabs me and smashes me to the near-by building. "Who's the one trick pony now?" While Dorado was boasting, a flying shield hits him square in the jaw. He lets go and I fly out of his range. "Who threw that!?"  
We look over to another building and I see Triangu receiving the Shield. "Dorado, you are very easy to find."  
"Well, well, looks like I have two OOParts for the price of one." Dorado said. He vanishes again. I look behind me, but he's not there. I look where Triangu is and he has him by his claws. Triangu hits arm with the Shield. Dorado screams in pain and Triangu escapes and comes to my side.  
"Looks like we meet again, Dan-Draco" Triangu said to me.  
"We have to stop meeting like this; in the middle of fights." I jokily told him.  
"Agreed," Triangu said.  
Dorado launches his ice spikes at us again. We both block them with our shields.  
"He's been using this trick since the fight started!" I told him.  
"Dorado isn't very creative." Triangu commented.  
"We'll see who's creative!" We heard Dorado from behind us. He slammed his blade into the ground and ice pillars come out of the ground coming towards us. A fire pillar surrounds me and I combine two forms again. The Shield and the Sword. The green heavy armor turns dark red. On my helmet, along with the Shield's symbol, is fire combined with it. The Sword materializes in my right hand and the blade becomes pure fire. Creating the Shield Swordsman. I take my Sword and its fire and spread it everywhere, melting the ice pillars. Dorado flies away from us.  
"Hey! Get back here!" I call out to him. Where is he going? He's retreating? No, must be leading us to a trap. Both Triangu and I follow him. We find Dorado hovering in the air. "What's your game, Dorado?"  
"I realized that my usual tactics won't work here." He said. "It is two against one, so unfair." He eyes down the street. What is he planning? "Ahhh." He said finally. "She'll do." He flies down.  
What the hell is he doing? I go after him. He lands in front of two women. He picks one up as a hostage. The woman screams in panic. When I landed I realized who they were: Mom and Selena. "M-mom? Selena?" Mom must have been doing errands and Selena joined her.   
"Danny? What's happening?" She asks me.  
"Dorado!" Selena calls him out.  
"Why hello again, Lynxis." Dorado calls her by her Draconian knight name. Selena merges with Lynx and joins the fight.  
"What do you think you're doing?!" Lynx demanded an answer.  
My mom screams and I start to get angry. "I'm gaining the upper hand." He's taking a hostage so I won't attack him. But how did he know my mom would be here? How much else does he know about me?  
"Let her go!!" I yell at him.  
"No. If you want your mother, you'll have to get me." Dorado said cockily.  
"Why you!!" I said as I took out my rifle and aimed at him. He puts my mom inbetween us. I panic. I can't fire. I might hit mom. I lost my dad and I won't lose my mom.  
"Daniel…" My mom said in a scared voice.  
"D-don't worry, mom, I'll get you out of this." I reassured her.  
"You damn bastard." Draco said.  
"That's right." Dorado said. "Play into your emotions. Emotions only get in your way to true power."  
Selena tries to attack Dorado at his side. But Dorado sees this and puts my inbetween Selena and him. Selena freezes her attack, unable to get to him.  
Selena growls from the frustration  
"That is sick, Dorado, even for you." Triangu told him.  
"Shut up, Triangu, you got in my way once before, I would let you do that again." Dorado said.  
"Can't you see that the power from the Shroud alone is making you insane!?" Triangu yelled.  
"Wrong. I feel stronger. Like I can destroy this city." Dorado boasted.  
"If you feel so strong, why must you kidnap a woman to get an edge!?" Draco yelled at him.  
"Because, the three of you are overwhelming."  
"No, it is because you're a coward." My mom said. I can't believe that she's talking back to him.  
"Why you… I am the strongest there is!!" Dorado yelled.  
"Then why are you losing?" Selena teased him. "If you were really powerful, you would be able to win without a handicapped"  
"If you had friends, maybe you would be happy for once. But no, you happily kill everyone to prove how weak you are." I teased him.  
"Shut up!!" Dorado flies fast into the air. Mom screams because of the jolt of being on the ground to suddenly taking off. Dorado flies away, but stays close. Triangu aims his blades to try and hit him. But he too can't hit him without hitting my mother. Dorado vanishes again. He appears behind me. I was about to counter, but he puts my mother directly in front of me. I freeze from the chance I could hit her. Dorado uses this chance to strike me. He hits me and I fall out of the sky. I manage to recover. But this goes on lot. Us trying to hit him, but failing to strike, and Dorado is slowing weakening us.  
This goes on until we get near the docks. He sits on top of a crane. He holds my mother over the edge.  
"No, don't you dare!!" I yelled at him.  
"What better why to destroy your spirits but kill the last parent you have?" Dorado said.  
"Dan-Draco, the Shroud is getting to him." Triangu told me.  
"It's corrupting his mind, I know." I figured it was. When I held it in Monterrioni, I heard it talking to me. "It's speaking to Dorado isn't it?"  
"It's telling him these things. It is driving him insane." Selena pieced it together. "I knew he wasn't smart enough to think of this."  
"Dorado! Put her down! The Shroud is telling you to do this!!" I told him. trying to get it through his skull.  
"I know." He said.  
"Wait, you know it's warping your mind?" Selena asked.  
"It's not warping when you agree with it" Dorado said.  
"But this isn't you, Dorado! You wouldn't kill innocents! You joined the war to keep the peace!!" Triangu said to try and get through to his old friend.  
"But while during the Separation, I realized something. All of this is for nothing. I fight for people, and what did it get me? Total despair and misery." Dorado said. "I realized fighting for the weak only makes you weak. If I didn't stay around to try to help as many people as I could, I wouldn't have been trapped for billions of years!!!" Dorado screamed. "You know this, Triangu, you were trapped with me!! Don't you regret not going with our people? To escape into the great beyond instead of staying down here to die!?"  
Triangu remained silent. "I don't care about the past. All I want is my friend back."  
"Too bad." Dorado said.  
"Dorado, you can stop all of this now! Just put my mom down and you can give this up and just live your lives!!" I tried to reason with him.  
Dorado pulls my mother back in. He looks around. He looks at his hands. He looks at my mother's scared face. "W-why am I doing this? What am I suppose to gain? B-but I-I" Dorado grabs his head in frustration. While doing so, he drops my mom.   
"MOM!!!" I freeze in fear. Unable to do nothing. All I see is her speeding toward the ground.  
Selena isn't frozen. She flies fast to try and save her. By just a few inches. She grabs her hand before she hit the ground. Selena saved my mother. I fly down to her. Mom gave us a giant hug  
"Oh god, thank you!" She said. I hug her back. Excited to know she's safe.  
I hear Dorado screaming again. I know I'm not done. "Selena, get mom to safety." I ordered her.  
"But I'm not leaving you like this!" She reasoned.  
"Selena, please. You know this as much as everyone, my mom is all I got. Please protect her." I told her. Selena didn't argue. She knew the pain of losing one parent like me. And she saw my mother like hers. She wanted her safe as much as I do.  
"Ok. But don't die." She tells me.  
"But, Danny." Mom calls for me.  
"Don't worry, I got it." I told her.   
Selena took my mom to a safer area and I flew up to Dorado. He was getting frustrated. It was like he was fighting himself. He was muttering to himself. The Shroud. It was doing this to him. I had to remove it from him. I flew at him and grabbed the Shroud. I struggled to get it off of him. I can hear the voices as well. Telling me to do unspeakable things. I actually think about doing them. But I try to ignore them.  
The Sword and the Shroud start to glow. Draco groans from the pain. They are reacting from each other. The grow gets more intense. It glows so bright, it blinds me.

I wake up on the ground, in my normal Dan-Draco form. The OOParts must have canceled my transformation. I see Dorado on the ground. The Shroud is between the two of us. Triangu and Selena comes out of nowhere and helps me up. "What happened?" I asked them  
"The OOPart's power must have reacted from each other and tried to break away." He explained.  
"It knocked you out, I was afraid that you were…" Selena pauses and tries to get the image out of her head.  
"I know" I told her. "Is my mom safe?"  
"Yea. She's far enough to stay out of danger and close enough to see" She said.  
"Good… Thank you, Trinagu, for helping me" I told him  
"You are wel—" Triangu was interrupted by an energy missile. Similar to Devilwing's. But it was black, not light blue like his. The impact pushed Triangu into a building. He created a large damn crater in the side of a building. As the dust settled, I saw a figure. It was a woman in some robes. It was the woman who follows Bowler around. I don't even know her name. Why is she here? Did she betray Bowler to get the OOParts for herself? I ready myself for her. She walks slowly. She picks up the Shroud. I can hear the whispers from here. But she remains emotionless from them. She entraps the Shroud in some energy field. The whispers turn into screams of pain. What the hell is she doing? She vanishes with a blink of an eye and appears by Triangu. She reaches for his shield. Triangu comes to and defends himself. She didn't even move her body. She just blocked his blades with her arm. No gauntlet, no protection. The blades don't even cut through her. She grabs her head and Triangu screams from the pain.  
"Stop!! He doesn't have to die!!" I tried to order her. But she doesn't even acknowledge me. Triangu falls to the ground.  
"He wasn't even trying to kill you! What are you doing!?" Draco demanded an answer.  
She again, doesn't respond.  
"What's with you!? You never say anything!! Who are you!!?" Selena yelled.  
The woman takes the Shield and entraps it in an energy field. Both OOParts now orbit her. She walks toward me. Her hood doesn't show her eyes. Still no emotion. She's worse than Devilwing. When she gets within several feet of me. I panic. What will she do to me? She doesn't do anything and walks past me. She stops beside a crane. From behind the crane, Bowler comes out. He goes up to her, not even scared. Why is he here? Did… did he plan this?  
"B-Bowler?" I asked him.  
"Dan-Draco…" He said. "Thank you for getting these to me"  
"What the hell is going on, Bowler?" Draco asked him.  
"Simple. You played your part, poorly I might add." He said. "You got the Shroud, but I knew you wouldn't get the Shield from Triangu because you 'trust' him."  
"What, you have your…" I paused to find a word for her "Servant steal it from him!?"  
"SHE IS NOT A SERVANT!!" Bowler screams at the top of his lungs very suddenly. I never heard him scream this loud. "She is…" He stares at her. But she doesn't look back at him. She doesn't react to him. Just stand there. "Everyone had their reason for getting the OOParts." He takes them from her. They circle around him now. He gasps for a second. "Now this is the power I need…."  
"What are you talking about?" Selena asks.  
"You wanted the OOParts to make sure no one uses them." I said.  
"I know. I'm doing just that." He said. "I'll make sure no one uses these for evil.  
"Then what will you use them for?" I asked him.  
"I will use the doomsday weapon to evolve this worthless world." Bowler said.  
"What? You're going to use a weapon to 'evolve' the world?" I asked him for an answer.  
"How will you use a weapon that destroys to evolve!?" Selena told him.  
"I lied." Bowler said.  
"I knew you lied." I told him.  
"Exactly and you failed to react to it. The great Dan-Draco isn't so great. Just a kid." Bowler teased me.  
I start to get angry at him.  
"There isn't a doomsday weapon. These OOParts are keys to the world's savior! Du Pan!" Bowler yelled.  
"Du pan?" Draco asked.  
"Who the hell is that?" Lynix asked.  
"Du Pan was Pangaea's last hope for the separation. It was suppose to protect them from it. But it was locked away, they never used it. They could've saved themselves, but choose not to!" Bowler explained. "I will reawaken him and he will evolve this world."   
"There must have been a reason why it was locked away!" Draco reasoned.  
"I know, they were scared because of what he can do. I will use the OOParts to control him." Bowler said. "But in order to do so. I need yours."  
I was afraid what he was saying.  
"You're going to kill me for the Sword, aren't you?" I told him.  
"No, I only need Draco. Hand him to me and you'll live." Bowler said.  
"Danny…" Draco said. "Do it."  
"What?"  
"That woman is too strong. Her power matches Devilwing. We can't win and you'll die in the crossfire." Draco explained. "Let me go so you can live."  
"Daniel…" Selena said quietly.  
"… No." I said. Of course that was a given.   
"What?" Bowler said frustrated.  
"Draco has been with me since the beginning." I began. "We fought together, we fought against each other, but in the end, he means more to me than power."  
"Danny…" Draco said in amazement.  
"We're more than friends. More than comrades. We're brothers." I told Bowler.  
"You're willing to give your life to a mere Draconian?" Bowler said disgusted with me like I ate out of the trash.  
"Yes. There's a difference between me and you, Bowler. You betray people away. You stab them in the back once you're done with them. You don't see me as a person, but a threat that can be controlled." I began "I have looked down on for all my life. If you think that I will hesitate to kill you... " I stop. My gauntlet glows from the Sword. I can tell it heard me. It transforms me into the Blazikai Swordsman. "The OOParts are alive. They don't want people like you to control them. The Sword had to give me a trail to see how far I would go to protect Draco. They feel the pain you're giving to them." I pointed to the energy fields around them. I took out the Sword and the blade ignites. "And I'll make sure you won't hurt them, my friends, and everyone from your twisted vision. I thought you were going to really protect the world from this ancient evil, but betraying me... I'll end you...."  
Bowler goes silent. He frowns deeply. Angry at me. I don't care. I'm not afraid of him anymore. "… Kill him."


	10. A Man's Wish

Within a blink of an eye, Bowler's servant was right in front of me. She didn't run toward me or anything. She grabbed my neck with one hand and started to choke me. The Sword began to glow; I took it and stabbed her. The fire engulfed her. I noticed her facial expression changed. She must have thought I die once she got to me. She threw me aside. I hit some large structure. The impact so great, it created a crater. Black energy started to form around her. It disbursed and got rid of the fire.  
To Selena, it all happened in seconds. She tried to sucker punch her with her twin katanas. But the woman grabbed them with her bare hands. She took one blade and threw it aside. The woman used her now free hand and engulfed it in the black energy and punched Selena. When her fist made impact, it created an explosion.  
"Selena!!" I yelled. Her body came flying out of the smoke. When she hit the ground, she desynched from Lynx.  
"She's ok, just hurt." Lynx told me through the radio in our helmets.  
"Take her and my mom to safety!" I yelled out to her.  
"Kill them." Bowler commanded.  
The woman focused on Lynx. I knew she was aiming to finish her job.  
I took out my single shot rifle. It materialized in my hand and I shot the woman. She didn't react at all. She just turned in my direction. She charged up her fist for another burst.  
She was interrupted by police sirens. I looked where my mom was and I noticed she had her cell phone. She must have called them. All the police cars stop. The police men open their doors with their guns and used their doors as cover. I noticed the two leading officers: Dibbs and Selena's dad. I look to see if Selena is out of range from her father. He doesn't know she is a Draconian Knight. Lynx has her out of range and she is escaping farther with both Selena and my mom. I make a sigh of relieve.  
"They are gone now; we don't have to hold back our power." Draco told me.  
"Trust me, I'm willing to go all out" I told him.  
"Dr. Bowler. Put down the… whatever they are and command your bodyguard to stand down! You are under arrest!" Dibbs shouted through the microphone.  
"Just cooperate, and you'll go easy on you!" Mr. Baker said.  
Bowler just laughs like it's a joke. "You idiots know what I am now!? You think your little toy guns can stop me! Dan-Draco here can't stop my creation!" He must be referring to the woman that's beating me to a pulp. "What makes you think I will stand down to a bunch of officers that can't even enforce the laws in their own city!?"  
"You had your chance." Bowler yelled. "Officers, open fire!"  
The cops all fire at both Bowler and the woman. She uses her black energy to create a black barrier. It's protecting her against the bullets.  
Draco gasps at something. "Daniel, what exactly is the building we hit?"  
That's an odd question. "Why, what does it matter?"  
"Look behind you" He told me.  
I turned around and looked at the building. I saw nothing special of it. But I noticed a sign on it. 'highly flammable'. That's when I realize what this is. "It's a warehouse for the fuel of the ships at the docks."  
"Exactly, look what type of weapon we have." Draco tells me. The Sword. The blade itself is fire. I take a giant step back.  
"We should stay away from this place."  
"It's not just the building. If we continue fighting here…" I realize what Draco is telling me. If our battle is here, it can set the whole shipyard on fire.  
"I get it. We have to get out of the area." I told him.  
I heard a large noise. The woman created a force wave from her barrier. The cops stopped firing. She was about to finish them. I fly up and shoot at her again. "Hey! You want me!? Come get me!" I stay low to the ground so she can follow me out of the area. Her boots glow from underneath. With no time at all, she jets across the ground.  
"That's some high tech skates." Draco commented.  
"Let's ask where she got them later." I told him.  
We covered about 2 blocks and she stopped. I noticed she was tugged on something like a dog with a leach.  
"Why she stopped?" Draco asked. I see Bowler is getting in his limo and drives toward us. The woman finally moves again.  
"Did you see that?" I asked Draco as we continued flying.  
"Yea. She stopped for Bowler's limo. Why?"  
"Maybe she can't get far away from him."  
"Either she's an overly obsessed girlfriend or there is something more than we know."  
"Draco, we don't know anything about her." I told him. I noticed how the fleets of cop cars are following us.  
"Dan-Draco" I hear a voice in my helmet. Sounds like Dibbs. But how did he get into my radio system?   
"Agent Dibbs?" I asked.  
"How did you get this channel?" Draco asked.  
"I linked them to us." I hear another familiar voice. It was Selena. She was flying above them, leading them to us. She had some bruises but she looks fine.  
"Se-" I caught myself in time. Dibbs can hear, which means I have to use her Knight name "Lynxis? You recovered fast."  
"I'm a fast healer. I explained the situation to Dibbs and da-" She corrected herself quickly, "Officer Baker."  
"Do you two have any idea how to take this woman down?" Baker asked us.  
"I don't know. She seems to have no weakpoints." I told them.  
There was some static on the radio.  
"Damn it, this thing keeps shorting out since we came here." Dibbs complained.  
"Wait a second." Mr. Baker said. There was a slight pause. "There's a magnetic disturbance here. But I can't pinpoint it"  
I look back to see how far Bowler's woman is. She's very behind us. I know for a fact she can go faster. Why is she being so slow? I noticed something between her and Bowler's limo. It looks like a chain. But it's not visible. It 'breaks' and then reattaches itself when an object gets between the two of them. I noticed how it 'links' them. Everything seems to fit together. "I got it!! It's the limo!!"  
"What?" Selena asked confusedly.  
"The limo is causing the disturbance! It's connected to her! I don't how exactly, but it seems to be 'powering' her in a way!" I explained.  
"Wait, he's right!" Mr. Baker said. "The limo is giving off a Electromagnetic wave signature and into that woman."  
"How the hell does that work?" Dibbs asked.  
"It must somehow fuel her powers." Draco explained.  
"Which means we have to destroy it." I told them.  
I flew low to the ground again and then stopped. She was catching up. I lifted the Sword in the air and slammed it to the ground. "Blazikai Blade!" It created a massive wave of fire and hit her. She stopped from the heat. While she was stunned, I flew fast to Bowler's limo. I landed on the hood of it. I was about to engulf the car on fire, but then she came back and slammed me to the ground. She had her boot on me. She was about to finish me. But she doesn't do anything. She freezes and groans and then starts to scream.  
"What's happening?" Draco asked.  
"You could destroy the limo…" I heard Mr. Baker said. His car and the cop cars block off Bowler's limo along with Selena. "Or you could jam it."  
The woman maintains her pressure on me. But she's in massive pain. She can't take it. The jamming is causing this to her. Ice pillars cover me and forces her to retreat some steps back. I merge the Blaziaki Swordsman with the Mist Shroud. The Shroud goes around my neck and turns the Blazikai armor light blue. It still maintains the medium weight armor of the Swordsman. My helmet maintains the flame patterns of the Blazikai armor and the Mist Shroud's icy pattern is merged with it. Another form: Swordsman Shroud. I put my hand on the ground and I encase her with ice, trapping her.  
"NO!!" Bowler screamed.  
"What was that about us cops being powerless?" Dibbs teased. "I'm warning you again Bowler, surrender!"  
The energy from the two OOParts Bowler has begun to glow intensely.  
"Weak…. So weak." He mumbles to himself.  
"We beat you. I don't think that makes us weak." Mr. Baker told him.  
"No… that's not what I meant." Bowler said. I noticed how he's making small links to the woman. "I mean how you don't just finish me. You know I'm a threat. Yet, you stay within moral code and just try to arrest me. You could very easy destroy my limo with me inside. But you choose to just jam my signal to her instead. I'll show you how the future is changed drastically when you make one bad choice."  
The woman breaks through the ice. He used the OOParts to give her enough power without the aid of the limo. She turns to the cops and raises her hand. The cars start to float in the air. Is she using telekinesis?  
"You got to be kidding!!" Draco exclaimed.  
She tosses them in air. The cops panic and hit the ground. Selena gets them out, including her father and Dibbs out the way of the falling cars.  
"This is power of only two OOParts!" Bowler yelled. "Imagine with all three." He said looking at me.  
"Bowler, you've become powercrazy!" I told him. I tried to snap him out of it.  
"No, I'm not. Dan-Draco, I am not looking for power. I just want to evolve the world beyond its weak state." He explained.  
"By causing it to explode?" Draco asked.  
"It won't explode. Besides, with the power of all three I can have the power to bring her back!" He yelled as the Shroud and Shield glowed again.  
"Her? Who are you talking about!?" I yelled. The Sword glows again. I hear Draco in pain again.  
"Oh Dracon, come on!" He yelled  
The OOParts formed the metal portal again like in Japan.  
"What is that!?" I demanded an answer from Bowler.  
"The city I discovered: Aterto!!" He yelled. "'Once the symbols of the three tribes are gathered again, the path to the free city appears.' It was once in the very center of Pangaea! This is where mankind will evolve!" The woman grabs me again. This time, she grabs the arm with holding the Sword to prevent getting swallowed by the flame again. "In order to work it, I need your OOPart." The woman takes me and goes through the portal.  
"No!" I heard Selena yell as we're close to the portal. She tackles the woman and we all go through it.  
The transition from L.A to Aterto was uneasy. I felt my stomach trying to jump out of my body. But when we went through the other side, we found ourselves in an ancient city. It was completely abandoned. No signs of life anywhere. Ice covered a third of the whole city, and the buildings look like modern day buildings. But they are rusting and falling apart. In the cent of the city was a large fortress. I'm guess that's where Du Pan is.  
"Incredible… This is where my ancestors lived…" Draco said in awe.  
We were on the ground. Bowler walked around me admiring the city.  
"Yes, Draco. Look at it. This was where all of Pangaea was all organized. It was floating out here in the sea and we completely missed it." He explained. "Rumors had it that another island city, Paldia, was attached to it, making it bigger. But those are rumors. Take the boy." He commanded the woman again.  
I looked around, I didn't see Selena anywhere. Where is she? Why isn't she here?  
"Sometimes the portal might spit out someone in a completely different area of the city. That just means no interruptions." Bowler explained.  
The woman was over me, about to grab me. I looked at my gauntlets and I was still in Swordsman Shroud form. I placed a hand on the ground and trapped her in ice again. I know it won't trap her forever. I quickly got up and start flying into the city. Bowler commanded her to get me. She chased me. She used her 'hi-tech skates' catch to me. I flew as fast as I can, turning around the corners of buildings, going through the broken windows of some of them. Even a whole building isn't enough to stop her. We turned the corner again, but I was frozen again. She was using her telekinesis on me. I was slammed into the ground. I was lifted up again and smashed into the wall and the wall across from it over and over. She wouldn't stop. The impacts were incredibly painful.  
She caused so much damage, the Swordsman Shroud form disappeared and desynching me from Draco. She was over me now. She was going to end it this time. She grabbed me. I was defenseless in my weak human form. I saw her eyes. They were the same as Devilwing's. Golden. Only I saw more to them than I could with Devilwing. The pupils were in a shape of a star. And the white area of her eyes were black.  
"Hey, bitch!!" I heard Draco call her from the street. "You want the Sword, you'll have to come and get me!!"   
She lets go of me.  
"Draco, what are you doing!?" I yell for him.  
"Saving your life! Get back to the portal!" He demanded me. He flew away and the woman followed.  
"Draco!" I yelled for him, but he didn't answer. I tried to follow them, but a large piece of ice broke from the highrise and fallen in front of me. Something emerged from the ice. It was a dinosaur. But it stood on its back legs. It was a Saurian. An ancient one. It was more reptilian than the ones I encountered months again. It had scales and menacing red eyes. Unlike the Saurian now since their bodies were made of energy and their chests, arms, legs, and heads were metallic. It saw me. It wanted my head. It was drooling with hunger. I guess being stuck in ice for millions of years will do that to you. I had no weapons with me. No Draco to Synch with. I was alone.  
All I remember was it pouncing at me.


	11. Duty

A sword connected to the Saurian's skull one second before it clawed my head apart. The sword hit the wall with the Saurian's head in it. I looked at my savior and it was Selena.  
"What would you do without me?" She jokily asked me.  
I ignored her little joke and hugged her. I thought she was gone when she didn't go through the portal. Selena froze at my hug and blushed. "Oh god, you're alive" I told her.  
"Of course, I'm alive!" She said breaking off the hug. But then she hugged me. "I'm glad you're alive…" She whispered.  
"Wait, Danny, where's Draco?" Lynx asked.  
Selena broke off from the hug so I can answer.  
"… He lured Bowler's servant off of me and onto him…" I told them.  
"Well, we have to find him!!" Lynx yelled.  
"How, Lynx?" I told her. "Without Draco, I can't Synch. Bowler will kill him and he'll destroy the world."  
"Hello?" Selena said to attention. "Are we forgetting that I'm here?"  
"Selena, I don't mean to insult anyone, but even with the OOPart, Bowler wiped the floor with me. Imagine what he'll do you." I told her.  
"… I'm not sure either to take that as a concern for me or an insult." She said.  
Another piece of ice fell from a wall next to us. Luckily, it missed. But it revealed a tunnel.  
"Where does that go?" Lynx asked.  
I felt a strong chill from the tunnel. "I say we go."  
"Whoa, what!?" Selena said. "But who knows what's down there?"  
"I'm sorry, I thought you were the Draconian Knight here, and I was the civilian. Are you saying a simple human is braver than a knight?" I cleverly said.  
"… Fine." Selena agreed.  
"Reverse psychology for the win." I joked.  
"Oh, shut up." Selena said as she 'playfully' punched me in the shoulder.  
"Ow." I said out of pain.  
"Have your psychology beat pain." Selena counter joked me.  
"Oh, shut up." I joked back.  
I swear I heard her giggle.

A few minutes of walking in the tunnel. The light from the side we came from began to fade. When it fades, the ceiling started to glow. There were tiny crystals in the ceiling.  
"Daniel, if this is some complicated way to get a room with me, all you had to do was asked." That came out nowhere and I panicked a little.  
"W-what, n-no…." I said. I know she was teasing me. But when it comes to that with someone else, I get nervous and hyper.  
"Relax, I'm only kidding." She said.  
"Unless you want to, in that case, I can leave the two of you alone" Lynx said, teasing me too.  
"Guys, the world is about to end and you joke around?" I said finally.  
Selena turns back to me with a change of mood. She looked sad. "I'm only trying to cheer you up…"  
"I don't need it. I just need a way to get Draco back and stop Bowler." I told her.  
"And what if we don't find something?" Selena asked me.  
"I will." I stubbornly said.  
"I know you will. You always find a way to solve everything. But let me ask you this: If the world was going to end, what would you regret not doing?" She asked me.  
I don't know how to answer. What would I want to do as a last thing I'll ever do? I thought about how we're in this cave, alone… plus Lynx. She stared at me for an honest answer. Her beautiful emerald eyes staring at me… Her medium-long hair turned into a cute ponytail. Some of her bangs pop out of her helmet. "Well…" I began. God I am bad at this. "I… would want…" What would I tell her? That I would want to be with her this last time? One of the most beautiful girls I know? How the hell can I say that anyway? That I want to hold her, have her sit between my legs, and nuzzle her head with mine while we both play videogames, owning everyone we come across? I don't have the courage to spit it out. "Yo—"  
I was interrupted by a loud moan. It scared the shit out both of us. In Selena's case, she materialized her assault rifle and shot the air.  
"Really?" I asked.  
"You try being scared of the dark!!"  
"You're the one in the Draconian Knight here!!" I told her. "Come on…" I ran after the moan. Selena took out her swords and followed me all paranoid, watching all corners. I noticed she was slow about it. "Come on!!"  
"I'm coming!!!" She yelled.  
I ran a couple minutes. It was dim and hard to see. I took a few more steps and I heard a metallic sound as I stepped. The cave was turning into metal. This means we're near something. Selena caught up with me and walked ahead of me.  
"Well, nothing's here, can we get out, now?" She said. I heard a bang. Selena walked into something. She nervously backed away and screamed a little girl scream.  
"Do you have to do that?" I asked her.  
"I swear to god, there is something in there!!" Selena yelled. What she ran into was a pod.  
"Daniel, I'm sensing a strong signature in there." Lynx said. Maybe someone put a weapon in here? I could use it to stop Bowler maybe.  
I approached the pod carefully. There was frost covering the glass. I took my hand and wiped it. What was in there wasn't a weapon, but a person. Dark skin and longish black hair. It took me a second to realize who this was: Devilwing. I remember this form when he attacked us at the concert stage. "Devilwing." I told Selena.  
"What the hell is he doing in here?" she asked me.  
He voluntary went into the portal to Aterto. He could either answer what I have to know, or kill all of us. This is his home, isn't it? He'll want to protect it. Maybe he was resting here to be ready for anyone. Either way, we need the power he has. He's as strong as Bowler's bodyguard. He can beat her. But if I wake him, how do I know he won't kill me? "We need to wake him up." I told Selena.  
"Are you insane!? He's going to kill us!!" Selena said.  
"He's strong enough to take down Bowler's overly obsessed girlfriend. Either way, we have too." I told her. I reached for the only button on the pod.  
"Please don't kill us, please don't kill us." Selena said to herself.  
I pressed the button and the pod opened. Steam came out of it. Devilwing was still asleep. I leaned in closer to inspect him. He started to fall downward.  
"Catch him!" Selena said.  
I caught him and he started coughing. He was waking up. He got out of my arms and was in a battle pose. "What are you doing here?" He angrily said.  
"Let's see, Bowler took the two OOParts, is about to get the Sword, and Danny's pretty much defenseless without Draco and we need some muscle to beta the living shit out of Bowler." Selena briefed him.  
"Thank you for all that, Selena, especially the 'me being defenseless part." I said her.  
"You're welcome."  
Devilwing groaned. "I knew someone like him would come…" I tried to help him up but he swatted my arm away.  
"First of all, who exactly are you, what is this place, and what the hell is the weapon the artifacts unlock?" I asked him.  
"Oh, and how do we beat him?" Selena added.  
Devilwing groaned again. This time, it was an annoyed groan. He sat down and was silent for a second. I thought he was dead until he spoke. "My name is not Devilwing. That is a name given to me by the Saurian. My name is Gale. And this is Aterto. It was the capital city in Pangaea."  
"Why did you attack me all the time?" I asked.  
"I wanted my artifacts back…" He said.  
"The OOParts belong to you?"  
"Not to me, no, my mentor. He was a great man among my people. The artifacts belonged to him. I wanted to maintain his legacy. Especially with it now gone…" Gale said. He wanted to maintain his mentor's legacy… I guess he deserved them more than any of us. "I lost my mentor in the separation. So did my love…"  
I could never imagine Gale as a romantic. "Aw…" Selena said out of pity.  
"Is she always like this?" He asked me.  
"She's a girl, what you expect?" She punched me in the arm.  
"I was trapped from her… I couldn't save her… I was frozen for billions of years. With nothing to do but relive that awful day…" Gale explained. He choked up a little. But breathed heavily to stop himself. "When I woke up, the piece of ice holding me was cut off and it followed the current. It melted and I saw how the world changed. The continents were separated. At first I was relieved, I thought my people survived… but they didn't. Only humans survived. When I awoke, I found out my people were truly dead."  
"Wait, you aren't human?" I asked him.  
"If you aren't human, what are you?" Lynx asked him.  
"That is none of your concern. I told you as much as you need to know about me." Gale said.  
"Two last questions: How is it you can Synch without the aid of a Draconian? And how do we stop this Du Pan?" I asked.  
He pulled out his Gauntlet. Similar to mine when I'm Dan-Draco, but his looked ancient. With pipes and old metal. Very steampunkish. I can't help but admire it. "It isn't Synching I do. It's my people's armor. My mentor found out about how humans and Draconians and Saurian, this Synch, as you call it. He was able to combine Draconian armor with my peoples' armor. However, it restricts some of my powers. But the pay off it worth it." Gale explained. "As to stop this Bowler, my original plan was to wait here and face him. But he came sooner than I thought."  
"So how do I get Draco back?" I asked.  
"Get him. And hope I win." Gale explained. He put on his gauntlet and he's armor covers him and becomes Devilwing. "Follow the steps to the fortress and don't die."  
"Wait, you can't face the two of them alone!" I told him. "Bowler's bodyguard is exactly like you!"  
"She is an artificial fake of my people." Gale quickly said.  
"Fake?"  
"There is a group of people, worshiping the enemies of my people, using our technology to their advantage. They somehow gave humans our powers. I'll find them and wipe them out." Gale explained.  
"At least let me help." Selena suggested.  
"You'll only get in my way." Gale said. "Just get to the fortress." As soon as he finished, he vanished.  
"Wait! Help me get there!!" I yelled out. But it was too late. "Dick…" I said. Just then I remember something. "Selena, did anyone else come out of the portal?"  
"I think Debbs followed me. But I couldn't find him. I ran into you actually." She explained.  
"I need to get to the fortress." I said as I looked for a way out. I saw a light by a wall. I kicked it and it punched through to a street.  
"But you can't fight anyone!" She told me.  
"Thank you for the confidence." I told her. I see the fortress and started running toward it. "Find Debbs and get him to the fortress!" I yelled back to her.  
"But what about you!?" She yelled back. "I can escort you!"  
"I'll be fine, get Debbs!"  
"Why must you give me the hard ass jobs!?"  
"Just do it!" I yelled running up the steps.

The stairs were long. As I ran up them, I felt that the path was extending. The city districts were confusing. I got lost a couple of times, but the fortress is massive and hard to miss. I kept running. I can feel my heart beating faster and faster. I want to stop and rest but Draco's life is on the line. As I ran, my necklace waved all over the place. I tried to ignore it. I began to picture dad looking down on me from the air.  
"You entrusted Draco to me…" I said to dad, even though I look like I'm talking to myself. "He saved my life several times… But this time, I'm saving him." The fortress glowed an intense light for a second. I drew the conclusion that Bowler is preparing Du Pan. "Got to pick up the pace." I told myself to run faster.  
I made it to the fortress entrance. The gates were busted open, but they look like they were like that for years. The Draconians rebelled, so they must have attacked the castle. The castle was large. The entrance leads to large center room. As the ruined carpet followed, so did stairs that split left and right. I didn't know where to go.  
"For the love of God, where are they!?" I yelled due to frustration.  
"What, never been in a castle before?" I heard a voice. I look up to see Gale.  
"Gale." We locked eyes for a second. Normally, he freaked me out with that icy stare. But it wasn't as threatening as before. He was in his Devilwing form. "I thought you already took the fight to Bowler."  
"My teleporting powers are limited. I was about to face that thief." He said as he stared out the window on top of the stairs. He waved his hand signaling me to come up. "Let me show you something."  
I was hesitating on going up. I still didn't trust him fully. But I went up anyway. The window wasn't very clear; it was one of those class windows you see at church. This one was worn out. It had a symbol of a hooded robed man with a greatsword. The blade's end was at the ground and there was energy around him like with Gale. "What is it?"  
"Outside this window, leads to the courtyard." Gale went up the stairs to the left. I followed. "It was once where people were trained." He explained. We turned and went down a narrow hallway. About midway, was a staircase going down into the courtyard. As we went down the castle, there were patches of ice everywhere. The ground was wet, probably from the melted ice. What if ancient Saurian or Draconian were trapped in the ice?  
"Did you train here?" I asked him.  
"No…" Gale said. He took his time before resuming his answer. "I grew up in the plains. Aterto was in the horizon and I would dream of going there…" He looked around for a second. "I guess I got my wish."  
"The plains? The only area I'm familiar with plains is Flordia." I told him.  
"I believe it was the… state you call Flordia… But so much… So damn much as changed, I can't tell what was what anymore." Gale explained. "You have no idea how luck you are, Knight." I couldn't tell if he was referring to my last name or because when I'm Dan-Draco, I'm a knight. "You still have your family and friends. You have a reason to fight while mine is gone."  
"Your reason isn't gone…" I tried to sympathize with him.  
"Shut up. You don't know. You never saw what happened here." Gale angry told me without looking at me. "I am the last of my kind. Humans take everything for granted in this world."  
"I'm not, because I know what its like to be alone. I lost my dad about two years ago" I told him.  
"You only lost one person, I lost everyone. You still have your mother don't you? Whatever loneliness you had is nothing compared to mine."  
"I was alone, until I met Draco. When I did, everything changed. I'm not trying to sympathize with you, I'm just saying, your friends may be gone, but that doesn't mean you can make new ones." I told him.  
We were almost out the door to the courtyard when Gale stopped. "Are you trying to be my friend, Knight?" He turned to me. His icy stare met my eyes.  
"I'm just telling you that you don't have to be my enemy." I told him.  
He stared at me for a brief moment.  
"If you really hate me, you wouldn't be helping me."  
"I'm helping you because you are the only one who can use the power of the OOParts. We'll need that power to stop Du Pan." Gale explained. "Come on."  
I followed him out to the courtyard. It was a large area. In the corner, was a training ring. The fence surrounding it was busted and out of shape. There were more patches of ice everywhere. As we went down the steps, I noticed Draconian and Saurian trapped in the ice. "There are people still in them."  
"I know."  
"Well, we have to help them!" I told him.  
"We can't…"  
"Why?"  
"Because I can sense their life force. They died of the cold. Draconian and Saurian are cold-blooded because they are part reptiles. They can't handle the cold." Gale explained. "But believe me, if they were alive, I would get them out."  
We went upstairs. The doorway leads to a chamber. Gale stopped me and looked inside. I peaked inside and I saw Bowler and his servant. She was holding Draco by the neck. "Draco…" I said. He doesn't look alive.  
"He's alive. Barely though." Gale told me.  
I looked around the room. The Shield was on a stand to the left. The Shroud was on a stand on the right. The Sword was on a stand behind the two ruined thrones. Behind the Sword was a giant statue. It looked like an ancient robot. It was almost as tall as Uni was. In between the three artifacts, was a massive pit in front of them. Whatever was in there, it was glowing.  
"Du Pan." I heard Bowler said. "With the power of the OOParts, I awaken you!! Give me the power of God himself!!"  
"He's insane." I commented.  
"But not totally off." Gale added. The place started to shake. It started like a massive earthquake but the shaking is starting to fade. I can still feel the shaking though. "Now I have to attack." Gale charges his fist and fires his classic barrage of energy missiles. Bowler's little servant foreseen it and protects Bowler with a barrier. She still held Draco by his neck.  
"Daniel Knight." I heard Bowler say with his back turned. "You never seem to damn give up, do you? Is your bond with Draco that strong?"  
"Human, for crimes against Pangaea, you will pay with your life." Gale threatened.  
Bowler doesn't seem to be phased by Gale's threat and he just laughs like it was the funniest joke in history. "LOOK AROUND YOU, DEVILWING!!! WHATEVER PANGAEA WAS IN NOW DEAD!!!!" His screaming even made Gale flinched. Bowler took a deep breath "I will surpass death and God themselves."   
"Bowler, you little quest for power made you insane." I told him.  
"I'm not insane, Knight. I'm trying to bring an end to the idiots running everything! We are entering war with each other and it will never end… No matter how many brave soldiers give their lives, it'll never end. NOTHING IS CHANGING! I will change everything!" Bowler tried to make his point.  
"I don't blame your reasons, Bowler." Gale said. "But how you are trying to achieve your goal is what bothers me. Du Pan will not give you power. He was imprisoned for a reason."  
"You imprisoned him because you were afraid of his power." Bowler countered. "I don't care what old stories you tell me, I will control everything…" He eyed his servant. "Drop him. And kill those two."  
She took Draco over the pit and dropped him.  
"Draco!!" I yelled.  
Gale took the chance and launched another barrage of energy missiles. The woman lifted her hand and they all stopped in midair. She pointed her finger at Gale and the missiles launched at him. Gale pushed me out of the way. He used his wings to protect himself. "Go!" He told me.  
I ran. I ran toward the pit. Once I got there, it was filled with some dark energy liquid. Draco came to. He was trying to get out. But he couldn't. He was sinking.  
"Sad, isn't it?" Bowler asked me. "Seeing a close friend dying before your eyes with no way to help."  
"I'm not giving up on him." I told him. "I'm guessing you're speaking from experience. Whatever happened to you won't happen to me."  
"What makes you so sure?"  
"Because I never abandon my friends." I told him. Bowler got angry.  
"There will be situations where you are told you can't save her…" Bowler said.  
"Her?" I asked. I looked at his little servant, who's giving Gale a run for his money. Was this woman the one he's talking about? "Screw whoever tells you to not save them. If they mean something to you, you save them!! Whoever you're talking about, she probably really died because you didn't have the balls to do so!"  
Bowler grabs on to me. I must have really pissed him off this time. "What makes you think you will save him?" He growls.  
"Because as long as I'm alive, I will." I kick him in the crotch area. Bowler kneels down in pain. I look down at the pit and take a step back. I run and jump in. "DRACO!!!"  
The liquid is like swimming through tar. I hear Debbs shouting at Bowler. Selena and Debbs must have made t. I look for Draco and he fights to stay afloat but he gets submerged. "Draco!" I dive down towards him. I can barely see anything. I feel around for Draco and I touch something: his claw. He sees me and I nod and so does he. He merges with me. We become one again: Dan-Draco.  
I fly out of the liquid. I see Selena and Bowler by the door, and the woman has Gale by the throat. "No… How did he…" Bowler said surprised I survived.  
"Dan-Draco!!" Gale yells even though he's being choked. "The OOParts!! Grab one and the awakening will fail!" I look behind me to see the Sword. I decide to get that. I fly to the stand and grab hold of it. I try to pull out. But it won't budge. Just like when the Sword tested me.  
"No! Mara, kill Dan-Draco! KILL HIM!!" Bowler yells.  
So that's her name. Mara drops Gale and jets towards me.  
"No you don't!" Selena said as she attacked Mara to distract her. Mara brushed her off by encloaking her fist with energy and punching her. While Selena was down, Mara used this chance to get to me.  
I pull harder and harder. I feel it budging slowly. Mara is right in front of me. I had to pull this thing out now before I'm dead. Before she could lay a hand on me, I finally pull the Sword out. It creates an energy field that repels her. I can feel the Sword's energy on me. "I don't know if you can surpass God…" I told it. "But I don't care if you can, just give me the power to protect everyone." The Sword's energy pours into me. But I feel something else. I look to the other OOParts. The Shield and Shroud glows as well. They turn into energy and get poured into me. I can feel the powers of all three. My armor transforms. My helmet turns into a shape of a crown; my armor grows slightly with the three colors: red, blue, and green in a triangular pattern. My left side gains a fully covered gauntlet. A shoulder spike pad grows too, and on my left arm, the Shield of Souls is attached. The Sword appears in my right side as its natural fire blade. The Shroud goes around my neck as cloak. I can feel back panels of a robe extending down my back. The energy disburses and reveals my new form to everyone.  
"Danny…" Draco said to me. "I don't feel the pain…"  
"I… I was right." Bowler said in awe.  
I see Selena helping Gale up. "The OOParts heard his voice and follow him." He tells Bowler. "He does not wish for power like you do, Bowler. He doesn't want it. He just wants enough to defeat you."  
Bowler growls with frustration.  
Mara tries to attack me with her encloaked fist like she used on Selena. Without even blinking, I block it with the Shield. She's surprised that I was that quick. I sliced the air with the Sword and it created three sound waves of different colors. Mara gets cut up from them. The attack was so ferocious; it ripped up parts of her robe. She gets pushed back to where Bowler was. Her hood gets ripped off and we see what it was she was hiding: Where her right side of her face was, was replaced by machinery. Her face was extremely pale… as though… as though it was in the starting stages of decomposing. Other parts of her body were replaced with machinery. Her arm, both of her legs, her eyes were emotionless. "NO!!" Bowler yelled as he ran to her side and held her close. I thought my ears were playing tricks on me, because I heard him crying. That's when it hit me what he meant earlier.  
'There will be situations where you are told you can't save her.'  
He was talking about her…  
"She was who you meant earlier, isn't it?" I asked him.  
"… Yes…" Bowler said choking up. "I… I was told… Commanded to do the mission… Had to choose…" Bowler was choking up again.  
"You used my people's technology to try and bring her back." Gale explained.  
"I… I thought they could bring her back, but…" Bowler began. "She… She wasn't herself… She… wasn't the same person I loved…" He began to hold her close. He cradles her head.  
"Bowler, she's gone. You have to let her spirit rest and stop thinking you're God." I told him.  
"Don't you dare be a hypocrite, Knight, if the girl you love died in your arms; wouldn't you do everything to bring her back?" He told me. I couldn't think of something to say back.  
Debbs walks up to Bowler and takes his hands. He does it slowly like its torturing him doing so. "I am sorry, Bowler, but you are under arrest."  
"I'm not done, Debbs." Bowler said without even looking up. The place began to shake again. I feel more rumbling. Behind me, the statue's eyes glows and the arms shatter. Out of the arms, came machinery hands. Energy connects to the body. The statue begins to move like a puppet. It comes alive. "The OOParts' power already transferred into him."  
"That's Du Pan?" I ask in awe.  
Bowler stands up with Mara in his arms while Debbs is distracted. "Yes…" I notice he's going to jump into the pit.  
"Wait! Stop!" I run to get him but Du Pan causes a massive earthquake again that slows mw down. Bowler simply steps off the ledge and into the pit with no emotion or yelling. Debbs grabs on to me to prevent me from falling.  
"We have to get out of here!" Debbs yells at me.  
"We can't." Gale interrupted him. "Du Pan was sealed for a reason. He was first made to oversee and protect us. But someone betrayed us and overwritten his core. He now is a power crazy killing God."  
"Debbs, Lynxis. Get out of here. Gale and I will handle this." I told him.  
"Dann—" Selena had to stop herself because Debbs was here. "Dan-Draco, I'm not leaving you alone again for the second time."  
"Just go!!" I yelled.  
"But—"  
"Come on." Debbs grabbed her arm. "We're not at their level. I'm a person with a gun that does shit again that thing. And no offense, but I doubt normal swords will do anything."  
Selena wants to rebel against it, but she understands. She grinds her teeth due to frustration. "Fine. Dan, don't die." She tells me before Debbs and her exit as fast as they can.  
"I know this is a stupid question, but are you ready?" I ask Gale.  
"Of course I am." He said charging his fist. "I don't like the idea of teaming with you, but I'm willing to put aside my grudge."  
Du Pan moves using its hands from its statue place to the pit. Because of this, it shakes the earth. Du Pan roars loud enough for the earth to shake again. He raises his arm and punishes me. I raise the Shield, creating a larger barrier. I dig my feet in the ground to increase my defense. The punch makes impact and I skid on the ground a few feet. Gale conjures his sword and the energy acting as the blade extends. He slashes the arm and the energy connecting to Du Pan's hand disconnects. Du Pan roars from the pain. He gave me breathing room. I charge the Sword and slash the air again. It creates three waves of different colors and hit Du Pan. It actually makes a few dents. Gale uses his blade and swings it, the energy releases from it making it a sonic wave similar to mine. It hits Du Pan hard. Gale makes a few more slashes and charges his fist for a barrage attack. Du Pan ignores it and roars again. The energy from his arm reconnects to his hand. He raises his hands in the air. They turn into energy and he smashes the ground. A massive wave of energy charges at us. I get in front of Gale and use the Shield to protect myself again. The wave was faster than his punch and it pushes us against the wall.  
While we're trying to get up. Du Pan roars again. Energy separates from him, into little balls. Skeleton bones come out of nowhere and the energy connects to the bones like a person. After we got up, he made a mini-army of skeleton minions.  
"That is why he's considered a 'god'" Gale said. "He supposedly has control of the dead. But they have no emotion and no regret."  
"They look like the Draconians now, only with bones and not metal." Draco describes. "No wonder this thing was sealed."  
The skeletons start to float and start to fly right at us. Gale fights them off with his sword, slashing each one as he goes. One comes at me, I slash it and the energy disappears. One charges and it hits the Shield. It shatters too and the bones fly everywhere. I have a clear shot at Du Pan. I ready the Shield and throw it at him. The Shield's barrier activates, making a serious cut into Du Pan. Gale flies past me. Taking out the Bonemen one by one. It was like watching one of those samurai movies and the samurai is taking out the bad guys like it was no problem. Gale's sword charges furiously, he flies above Du Pan and swings the sword on him downward. The energy from his sword impales Du Pan. To finish it, Gale uses his barrage on him at point blank. God, seeing him unleash his fury on someone other than me is…. actually beautiful to watch. The Shield comes out of the smoke and comes back to me. Du Pan's eyes go dark. Did we win?  
"Is it?" I ask outloud.  
"It was too easy…" Draco said.  
I see Gale return to my side. "My powers are weaker than the power of all three OOParts you used. No way it's done." Gale explained.  
Du Pan's eyes glow black. It comes back alive and roars loudly. We had to cover our ears. Which shouldn't be necessary because our helmets filter loud noise, making it harmless. The energy connecting to Du Pan's arms to his body turns black as well. And a symbol appears on him. It was in a circle with three "U"s. The "U"s curves were pointed not curved, however.  
"You got to be kidding me." Draco complains.  
"Why does this remind me of a bad anime?" I ask myself.  
"We have to attack again!" Gale commands. His sword charges again and he swings it unleashing a massive wave on Du Pan.  
I do the same with my wave with the three colors. Du Pan just brushes them off. Not a scratch.  
"Got any more ideas?" Draco asked Gale.  
Du Pan's chest opens up, revealing its core. The core then collects energy. Gale starts to panic. "Dan-Draco, use the Shield's barrier quick!!"  
I realize Du Pan is preparing a massive attack. I quick do as Gale says and protect us both with the barrier. Du Pan unleashes a powerful oversized beam at us. The barrier does very little as we are launched outside. The whole city starts to shake. All around us, pieces of buildings are falling apart.  
"No, Du Pan's destroying Aterto!" Gale said.  
"How did your people stop it the first time?" I asked him, hoping for an idea to come out my ass.  
"I don't know, it was made before my time." Gale explains.  
I glance at Du Pan. Something about it seems familiar… In fact, it looks a lot like Uni. "Draco… Doesn't Du Pan remind you of anyone?"  
"Actually, I realized it too." He agreed with me.  
"What are you two babbling on about?" Gale asked me.  
"A couple months ago, the Saurian used a machine called Uni on us." I filled Gale in.  
"It was a super weapon made to destroy entire planets. And this thing looks very similar to it." Draco added.  
"Maybe this is where the Saurian got the original design of Uni. From Du Pan." I said.  
"If so, it must have the same weakness. Hopefully." Draco added again.  
"How did you stop Uni?" Gale asked us.  
"It had a key used to control it. Once we smashed it, it was destroyed." I explained to him.  
"Du Pan must have a key!" Draco added  
"But where is it?" I asked for an answer.  
Gale looked at Du Pan, studying it. "I sensed a smaller addition object in him when he attacked."  
"Could be the key. Lock the key WITH the giant robot. Genius." Draco said.  
"That key must add as a back source. When it reactivated, it must be the cause of it." Gale explained.  
"We need something strong enough to pierce the armor." I told him.  
"Dan. You need to truly call on the OOParts." Gale told me.  
"What? How?" I asked.  
"You need to call out to them and ask them to use their ultimate power. They listen to you." Gale said grinding through his teeth. "Maybe you can do it…"  
"You don't seem too happy about it." I pointed out.  
"I thought I would be their guardian… I thought I could finally be the one who can carry on my people's existence. Through the Sword." Gale explained. "You seem to be their protector. You somehow past their trail. I just don't know how a… how a human could be accepted by them."  
I realized what he was talking about. When he attacked at the pyramids, I had to go through the Sword's trail to truly control it. Gale applied pressure by attacking me for it. He was even surprised that I learned to control it. "You be amazed what we can do while under pressure."  
"But I know why it was possible. You aren't like other humans, who fight for stupid reasons. You fight for your friends. You and Draco have a strong bond with each other. The Sword must have realized you were the perfect protector. You have an incorruptible spirit." Gale explained.  
Now I felt bad. I took the one thing that meant to him. "Gale when this is over, you can it." I told him.  
"No. The Sword can only choose one. It choose you. You must keep it." Gale told me with his back turned.  
"Who said it only picks one guardian?" I told him.  
Gale stops to consider that. But he shakes his head. "Enough talk, we have a fake God to kill."  
Du Pan roars once again. We fly up to the room again. The ground begins to shake and fall apart.  
"We need to get him to fire again!" Draco yelled. "We can attack while his core is exposed!"  
"But how?" I asked.  
"I can it open." Gale said unexpectly.  
"I am now suddenly worried as how you'll do that." I told him.  
"Don't worry about me. Just unleash everything on him!!" Gale ordered me. He walked up to Du Pan. He desynched his armor, leaving him exposed. He raises his hands halfway up and they lightly glowed. He clutches his fingers as though he was pulling a door open. I hear metal screeching. Du Pan seems to be struggling to move. Its armor starts to open up slowly. Is Gale doing this?  
"That's incredible" Draco said in awe.  
Gale said that while Synched, his powers are restricted, but others are enhanced. "Dan-Draco!!" Gale calls to me. "Get ready! This is hard to do!"  
"Got it!" I flew up in front of Du Pan. Its chest starts to fully open, revealing its core.  
"Hurry! I don't know how long I can keep this up!" Gale yells.  
I try to focus on the OOParts. Figuring out how do so. Within a second, they show me how to do it and it become clear. I take the Sword and stab the ground. I make a perfect triangle with me in the center. From one corner, fire raises, another, ice raises, and the last, rocks raise. More start to rise. Once they scatter in the air, the elements start to spin violently like a storm. Energy is built and released. The storm hits Du Pan's core, getting barraged by fire, ice and earth. Du Pan roars from the massive storm killing its core. Fire sets the core ablaze, ice shards impact the surface, and earth shatters it. The core gets one massive crack. The crack spreads throughout the core and completely shatters. Du Pan roars loud, screaming in pain. Its eyes fade and lose all ability to hold itself up. It falls into the pool of dark liquid below. The storm fades away as well. I feel like all the energy has been drained from me. I feel like resting on my bed and do nothing all day. The form the OOParts gave me revert me back to my original armor. I feel the place shaking. Why is it still shaking? Du Pan is gone.  
"Danny!" Draco calls my name.  
I try to answer by I feel drowsy. Everything feels blurry. I feel someone over me. I know its Gale.  
"Wake up!" Gale yells a me.   
"I can't move…" I tell him very weakly.  
"The OOParts drained your energy." Gale explained. I think he said something else but my hearing starts to tune out. I think the city is slowly breaking apart because of the absence of Du Pan, who was the city's core. My eyes feel heavy, I can't stop from sleeping. I try to get up, but my strength fails and I get knocked out.

 

Screams and fire. That's all I hear. In a blurry state, I see people running. It doesn't look like they are really there. I think someone is carrying me. I can't see who. I can hear people running for their lives. Crushed by falling buildings or burned alive in fires. I don't even react. On the outside, I'm still in a trance state, but on the inside, I can handle it. Is this what the people of Aterto faced? Is this what happened when Pangaea separated?  
I don't feel the OOParts' presence. I can see them sinking… I see dark blue. Underwater? I see the artifacts sinking. I feel them trying to talk to me. Their purpose for now is done. They sink to the bottom of the ocean, where no one will find them. Safe from those who wish to abuse them…

I finally come to. I feel better now. I wake up and scan where I am. I see the sky: cloudy. I hear car sirens. I'm back at L.A. I look up around me. I'm on a building. I think on the top of a skyscraper. I don't feel my heavy Dan-Draco armor. I'm not synched with Draco. Draco is also waking up. He looks confused as I am. Our eyes met and we both know we have no idea what is going on.  
I see Gale at the edge. He's staring at the city, examining the city life. My only guess would be that he's comparing it to how much things have changed for him. He was right back at Aterto, I never went through whatever he did. Whatever little bit of connection I can gain with him about the same loneliness with the loss of Dad is nothing compared to his. He lost more than a parent, he lost everyone. His friends, mentor, family, and love. He's all alone in this world, feeling out of place. How can I connect to that? If anything, Gale made me realize how I've been complaining about nothing since my dad died.  
I want to say something. But I can't figure out what to say. What do I say? 'Thanks for saving my life, don't kill me'?  
"Figure out what you'll say before you screw up the sentence." I hear him say.  
"You saved me?" I asked him.  
"You're welcome." He says not even looking at me; he continues to look at the city.  
"Why?" I ask him. Why would he risk his own life to save mine?  
"I thought you didn't like us much." Draco said.  
He remains silent. "I have my reasons, Knight. Now, you have friends to get back to." As he said that, it only reminded me how he's alone in the world and keeps shutting me out.  
"You don't have to be alone all the time." I tell him.  
He remains silent again. The silence bothers me. I feel like I'm getting no where with this. "I have my mission to do, Knight. I still have a purpose. I tend to finish it."  
"Listen, Gale." Draco interrupted him. "There's a comet coming. It's going to collide with Earth, possibly destroying it. If you want to not get killed, you need to work with us."  
"Draco, you actually believe what Terraflight said about the comet?" I ask him. When Terraflight teased us about the comet a couple months ago, Draco thought it was impossible.  
"I've been thinking, there is no way that the Saurian would go through all the trouble to destroy the Earth first to have our planet destroyed. They must know what they are doing if they're believing a myth." Draco explained.  
"I know." Gale said, surprising us.  
"You know?" I ask  
"I've been tracking a group who has been stealing my people's technology. Bowler was part of it. He used it to bring his dead loved one back to life. But it didn't go the way he hoped." Gale explained.  
I was only reminded of how Bowler held Mara in her arms and almost cried. His words kept floating in my head: "If the one you loved died in your arms, how far would you go to bring them back?" A sercerio of Selena dying in my arms plays in my head. Is Bowler an example of what will happen to me? A twisted mind bent on bringing her back?  
"It's my duty to bring them down." Gale explains. "I'm sure the legendary Dan-Draco will find a solution to the comet." Gale synchs with his armor and teleports.  
Me and Draco share glances, both of our faces worried.  
"Are you scared?" Draco asks me.  
"Why would you ask that?" I ask him even though I know the answer.  
"Of the comet? If you are afraid and worried, you can tell me."  
I'm a bit terrified. But I can't tell him that. If I tell him I'm scared, it'll affect him too. He'll be scared as much as I am. But he's a seasoned warrior; I'm a human who hasn't held a gun until Draco came into my life. "I don't know." I told him. That seemed reasonable. Doesn't inflict fear.  
Draco gets up. "I'm sure we'll figure it out when we get there." He hands out his hand for me to get myself up. I grab it and pull myself.  
But what can I do? Should I try to figure out what to do for when it comes… Or just enjoy whatever life I have left?


End file.
